Requiem for an Era
by Fateless Wanderer
Summary: Set after DT graduates: Tommy recieves a call from two people he hasn't seen in years, and a reunion of six rangers is organized. Two are forced to face their past and Tommy must introduce the teens to his past. TK JT TK Full summary inside
1. Together Again?

Ok, so this is a bit childish for me, and if any of my friends do see this and happen to read it, please, don't say anything unless you actually like it. You know me and self esteem. I don't care if you're a stranger and you flame me for writing this, but if you're a friend, please, just don't.

I wrote this for a few different reasons: One, my little cousins were over and they found my old power ranger tapes, so we watched them, and they pointed to Tommy and were like, we know him, that's the black ranger. I just had to laugh.  
Second, I always hated how saban ended the Tommy/Kim relationship. Kat was nice and all, but I will always prefer Tommy/Kim. ALWAYS. So I've always kind of wondered what would happen if they met up, and what the real reason behind the Letter was.  
Third, no matter how old I get I want to hold onto my childhood. Growing up around a lot of boys (my brother, and the four kids my mother babysat daily after school) Power Rangers was my childhood. It may not have had the best plot lines, or the best filming, but when you're eight, they were the best plotlines. I remember running home just to watch it on TV. Yes, I do remember all the names, I won't deny. I remember colors, I remember where and when the team changed. I was in love with the Tommy/Kim relationship, and I still am, in a way. I want my own white knight, I guess I could say.

So, this is a tribute to everyone who grew up with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or anyone who wants to know about the start of something that has been on for many, many, many years.  
**  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or anything that may refer to an actual Power Ranger episode. I do however own this plot line. Saban owns the rest.**

**Summary: Tommy gets a phone call from two old friends, who have two surprises for him, one being a Power Ranger Day in Angel Grove. He accepts the invitation to attend, and must now suffer the consequence of bringing the four teenage Dino Thunder members to meet his past. Things go from weird to insane when Tommy is forced to come face to face with his first love, for the first time since he gained his Turbo powers. He now has to keep secrets from his friends, deal with trouble making teens, and fend off his best friends' plots to get him back together with the one woman that could ever complete him.

* * *

**

Summer was a time for sleeping in, lazing about around the house, and occasionally taking a dip in the pool or going to the beach. It was the time of year when teachers were able to enjoy themselves and not have to deal with the complaining of students and/or their equally annoying parents. Summer was the time when the average teacher could finally kick back and relax.

Unfortunately, Dr. Thomas Oliver wasn't your average teacher. And his students weren't your average students; or at least four of them weren't; which meant that during the summer they didn't exactly avoid their science teacher. In fact, he was sure that he saw them more often during the past two weeks of summer vacation than he had seen of them during the school year.

The sun had barely risen that morning and he was sure he could hear the four recently graduated high schoolers in his living room. Groaning, Tommy sat up in bed and ran his hand through his spiked hair. He never should have given Conner the key (in case of emergencies). "I should have let a monster eat them," he muttered, pulling on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, before stepping out into his living room, to find Conner and Ethan playing with his old Sega system, while Kira and Trent watched. The room was a mess, though he admitted it wasn't entirely the fault of the four multicolored teens on the couch.

"Morning, Dr. O," Ethan said without taking his eyes off the mortal combat game. Conner gave a one handed wave, while Kira and Trent turned around and smiled. Their powers were gone, but they still all hung out together, and still wore their colors. Conner in a grey tank and red shorts, Ethan in black shorts and a blue t-shirt, Kira wearing a pair of jeans and a yellow tank, and Trent in a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. Tommy just shook his head and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "I hate you," as he disappeared into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. As he reached up to grab his favorite mug, the green one with the white stripes, from the cabinet, the telephone rang. He glared at it for a second before calling out to Kira, who immediately picked up the handset in the living room.

"Dr. Oliver's residence; Kira speaking," she said into the speaker without taking her eyes off the TV screen. Ethan was creaming Conner, who insisted that his thumb hurt and he couldn't press the buttons as well as usual.

"Um… hello," said the voice on the other line; a female.

"Hi, who's this?" Kira continued cheerfully as Conner began hitting Ethan with the controller, Trent wincing every time, obviously feeling his friend's pain.

"Uh… this is Trini Kwan. May I speak to Tommy, please?" the person on the other end asked, unsure if they even had the right number.

"He's a little incoherent at the moment… oh, Conner's trying to kill Ethan again," Kira said, tossing the handset to Trent as she went to pry the controller away from Conner before Ethan ended up unconscious.

"Hello?" Trent asked tentatively into the phone, watching his friends end up wrestling on the floor, and praying that neither stepped on his girlfriend.

"Hello," Trini returned, getting more than a bit confused. Hadn't a girl just been on the line? "Who's this?"

"Uh, I'm Trent, who are you?"

"Are they passing the phone around?" a voice in the background asked Trini. She paused; Trent assumed he was on speaker phone and she was nodding to the other person.

"Trini Kwan. Listen, can I please speak to Tommy?"

"Sure, I'll get him for you," Trent replied, getting off the couch and stepping around the three struggling teens on the floor and went into the kitchen to find Tommy ignoring the commotion in the living room, drinking coffee and reading the sports page. He had obviously forgotten about the phone. "Dr. O?" he asked, and his teacher looked up, appearing to be in a much better mood than he was before the coffee. "A woman named Trini K-"

Tommy dove across the table, startling Trent to death, and grabbed the phone as the teen scrambled back into the living room to get away from the crazy paleontologist.

"Hello?"

"Tommy! Finally!" Trini sighed, although she sounded very enthusiastic. "I was beginning to wonder if you even lived there."

"Hey bro," another voice added over Trini's.

"Jason? Man, how are you guys? How'd you get my number? What are you doing together?"

Trini laughed, cutting off his seemingly endless supply of questions. "One question at a time, Tommy. We're doing well; your number is listed in the Reefside phone book; and Jason and I are married," she answered, as if it was nothing.

"Come again?" Tommy said, plopping back into the chair he'd abandoned when he leapt at Trent to get the phone. "You're what?"

"Well, we ran into each other a few months ago, and well, a week ago, we decided to elope," Jason explained as if it was a normal occurrence for two old friends to randomly get together and somehow end up married.

"Wow… um, congratulations. Who else knows?" By that point Tommy had noticed that all the noise in the living room had stopped. He could tell the teens were listening, but truthfully, he didn't care; they could only hear his half of the conversation anyway.

"Just Zach; I haven't been able to reach Billy on Aquitar," Trini explained. She hopped he wouldn't notice that she'd left out the sixth member of their group. Tommy remained silent, so she figured either he did and wasn't going to say something, or he didn't. "We ran into him in Vegas," she added, changing the subject.

"Vegas?"

"Yeah, he works for a record company now and he was scouting for new talent and Trini bumped into him, literally, in the casino of our hotel. He was our witness," Jason added.

"Small world," Tommy answered, taking a sip of his coffee. "How'd you know to look for me in Reefside?" he asked them. No one but Haley knew where he was. Well, maybe his parents, but they didn't live in Angel Grove anymore, so he didn't know how Trini and Jason, or anyone from his high school years could have found him. He was getting a bit suspicious of this random phone call, considering it was barely nine o'clock in the morning.

"We didn't for sure," Trini answered, her voice hinting that there was something she wasn't saying, or didn't want to say.

"Trini! Jason!" he said warningly, using a tone he had only used for a short time, when he was leader.

"Well, we heard there was a ranger team in Reefside and well, where there's Power Rangers, there's, well, you," Jason stated simply.

"Thanks. I'm so happy to know you two believe I have nothing better to do than hang around the latest group of Power Rangers," he retorted, dryly, although he didn't say it wasn't true. The teens, however, were more than a little surprised to hear Tommy mention Power Rangers. After all, they were only getting half the conversation. Kira frowned. Where had she heard the woman's name before? Then it hit her.

"Guys, Dr. O is talking to the first power rangers. Or at least one of them," she stated, her eyes wide. Conner and Ethan dropped their controllers and moved closer to the entrance of the kitchen where Trent and Kira were standing. Tommy smirked hearing them, although he was pretty sure that Trini and Jason hadn't heard Kira's whisper. It was always funny to watch the teens wander around awestruck when they discovered some part of his past.

"Well, it worked, didn't it," Jason retorted. "Although Trini did have to call like three other T. Oliver's in Reefside first." Tommy stifled a laugh.

"Yeah, well, that's what you get when you go searching for people. So, what's this phone call about? Surely you didn't just call to make fun of where I live and tell me you were married at nine o'clock in the morning."

"What, can't a person call and tell their best friend that they're married?" Jason asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Not a week later," Tommy retorted.

"We were busy," Trini responded.

"Ok, I didn't need to know that." The thought of Jason and Trini was sweet, until he remembered what exactly it was that married couples did in private. Then it was just creepy. "So really, why the sudden phone call?"

"I guess you don't get Angel Grove news in Reefside."

Tommy shook his head and then remembered that they couldn't see him. "No. Can't say we do. What's going on?"

"Well, Angel Grove's having another Power Ranger's day," Trini began.

"Do they have a big sign posted that says 'WE WANT TO BE KIDNAPPED, AGAIN'?" Tommy said, cutting her off.

"Maybe, not sure, but I'll check; anyway, the mayor said something about hoping the Rangers would make an appearance, and Jason and I were going to go anyway, but we thought it'd be kind of fun to get the old gang back together and well, maybe,"

"Show up in costume?" Tommy said with a bit of a laugh. Why not, it could be fun. That was if no aliens decided to try and kidnap the entire city again. It was the summer, he didn't have plans, and he could get away from the teens. Let them hang out at Cyberspace instead of his living room. "When is it?"

"Oh Tommy! You'll come? You're really going to come?" Trini started squealing. "Cause Kimberly said she'd come and she wanted to know if you'd be there too, and we said we didn't know cause we didn't know where you were."

"Ah ha!"

"Ah ha, what?"

"You said Kimberly! Someone else did know." Tommy said into the speaker. He heard the teens inch closer to the kitchen. He shook his head. The other end went quiet. "Trini? Jason?"

"You're still going to come, right?" Trini asked him.

"Of course; I wouldn't miss this for the world. So, it'll be you two, Zach, Kim, and I?"

"Trini's going to try and contact Billy. See if she can get him to come home, at least for a little." Jason stated. "Its in three weeks, but Zach and Kim both said they'd be here next Saturday."

"Alright, I'll make a reservation at the hotel. See you in a week?"

"Yeah," Jason started to say goodbye. "Wait, who were those teens that were on the phone earlier?" Tommy groaned. So close. He'd been so close.

"Those would be the most recent Power Rangers."

"Ha! I knew it! I know you Tommy! You should bring them." Jason laughed. Tommy could picture him doing a little victory dance behind his wife, while Trini grinned from ear to ear. They knew him way to well, but he knew them as well.

"What? No way! Not in a million years."

"Aww, come on. I want to meet your little protégées," Trini added, and Tommy could see her pouting her lip the way Kimberly used to in order to make him do what she wanted. Tommy just sighed.

"Who said they were my protégées?" Tommy asked her.

"Jason," Trini added simply. He should have known.

"Fine, I'll think about it. But don't get your hopes up. Their parents probably won't let them." Tommy answered. "I'll see you both next week. Bye."

"Later bro," Jason answered, hanging up the phone at the same time as Tommy. Tommy sighed and shook his head. So in a week he'd be seeing his old friends. He'd seen Jason two years before, but he hadn't seen any of the others, in wow, it had to be almost ten years. This would be one hell of a reunion. And then there was Kimberly. Jason and Trini hadn't even wanted to tell him she'd be coming until after he'd agreed. Trini thought he'd back out. And when he thought about it, she was probably right. Maybe he should call them back and say something had come up. He wasn't exactly sure he wanted to be in the same city, let alone the same room as Kimberly. He shook his head one more time to clear his thoughts, as he heard the Dino Thunder teens scramble to get back to their previous positions.

"Hey Dr. O," Conner said with a slight guilty look as Tommy came into the living room and sat down on the couch beside Kira and Trent.

"Don't 'Hey Dr. O' me. I heard you four listening," he retorted. He knew he was going to regret this. Somehow, taking the Dino Thunder teens to Angel Grove for almost two weeks sounded like a really, really bad idea.

"Was that really them?"

"Yes, Kira. That was Trini and Jason, the first yellow and red. They've invited me to attend a Power Ranger's day in Angel Grove with them next week."

"Can we come? Please!" Ethan began to beg. Tommy laughed. He had to milk this.

"Well, I don't know. It's only to honor the first six power rangers."

"Aww! Please? We don't care," Conner added to the conversation. Trent, Kira, and Ethan were nodding.

"And then there's the cost, and you'd be bored."

"I'll sleep outside, and no we wouldn't," Ethan suggested.

"Please, Dr. O?" Kira pouted. What was it and the female yellow rangers being able to make him feel so guilty; first, Trini, then Aisha, Tanya, and now Kira. He slapped his forehead.

"They already made me promise to bring you," he told them. The four teens began to jump and cheer. "But you've got to ask your parents first," he added, but doubted they could hear him through all their celebrating. He was doomed.

* * *

Tommy spent the next week getting together the odds and ends that needed to be taken care of before he could leave his home for two weeks. He'd called each and every one of the teens' parents, all who'd been thrilled to give up their kids for two weeks to a trust-worthy teacher. Tommy wanted to throw out the responsible half of himself and kick himself for even agreeing to this in the first place. Trent's father was even willing to pay for the whole trip, at least for the kids.

Unfortunately, when Tommy called the only hotel in Angel Grove, they only had two rooms left, and he didn't want to have to impose on Trini and Jason. That left him with a decision. He finally decided to give the four kids one room, and take the other room for himself, after threatening to run Trent through with a saber if he and Kira did anything stupid. Kira and Trent had turned bright red, while both Ethan and Conner made gagging and hacking sounds until Kira hit them, hard!

He called and canceled the newspaper, and shut off the gas. He didn't like the idea of his house burning down while he wasn't there; granted, he liked the idea of his house burning down while he was there, even less. He called Haley and asked her to check in on his house and get his mail for him. Once she'd agreed, he'd set about packing. Here was the hard part.

He set up a big black suitcase on his bed and looked around his room. He grabbed a handful of green, white, and red t-shirts and polos, and some dress shirts, a tie or two, as well as a few pairs of shorts, jeans, khakis, and one pair of dress pants. He glanced over at the part of his closet where he kept his black shirts. None of his friends knew about his most recent trip into the realms of the power rangers, and no one but Jason and Trini knew he even had anything to do with them, although with Jason, that wasn't going to remain a secret anymore. Sighing, he tucked one or two black shirts into his bag, followed by socks, boxers, and his other essentials, which included gel for his hair.

The morning before the trip, he woke up early, only because he'd made the teens promise to be there by nine, or he was leaving without them. He went to the back of his closet and pulled down a box. Inside was his old white ranger suit, his useless morpher, a powerless saba, and his old communicator. He took the box into the kitchen, grabbed duct tape and a sharpie and proceeded to secure that the top of said box was going to remain in place no matter what. For good measure he popped the sharpie open. "DO NOT OPEN FOR FEAR OF DEATH". Tommy smiled at his handy work just as the doorbell rang. "Come in!" He called, as he added one more thing to the warning: "CONNER, THIS MEANS YOU!"

The former green, white, red, black ranger walked into the living room where his suitcase had been joined by Ethan's, Trent's, and Kira's. He set the box down and looked at the three teenagers in front of him. Kira wore her usual yellow tank top, but had a pair of white shorts on, and she carried a camera. Trent was wearing a pair of white shorts, a grey tank top, and a white button down t-shirt over it. Ethan had on a pair of white and blue shorts, as well as a pale blue tank top. They all looked over at their mentor, who wore a pair of white pants, a green tank top, and a red button down t-shirt over it. His shoes were black.

"Couldn't choose a color Dr. O?" Ethan asked. Tommy just shook his head.

"My friends don't exactly know about my being the latest black ranger, and they're not going to," he told the teenagers who all nodded.

"Hey, what's going on, guys?" Conner asked walking in and adding his bag to the pile. He wore a pair of red shorts, a white tank top, and a red top over it.

"Nothing, just listening to Dr. O explaining to us how he was too chicken to tell his old friends he was the black ranger." Ethan told him. Tommy glared daggers at the boy, who grinned innocently.

"Its Dr. O's choice, which means you and Ethan won't say a word." Kira told him.

"I doubt Conner'll be able to say anything. He'll be too tongue tied when he meets Jason." Trent returned.

"Will not," the red ranger informed him as the four guys began taking the bags to the back of Tommy's jeep. Trent bent to get Kira's, but she slapped his hand away and carried it out to the car herself.

"I bet you ten bucks, he will," Trent told Ethan.

"No fair, I'd lose that in a heart beat. But I think he'll over come it in fifteen minutes."

"I give it thirty," Trent whispered back.

"You're on."

They were on the road to Angel Grove by nine thirty because as soon as they pulled out of the drive way Ethan remembered he forgot to use the bathroom. Then Conner forgot his CD player at his house; Kira couldn't ride in the back seat with two of the three guys; and Trent was thirsty. After getting everyone situated (Ethan behind Tommy, Conner in the middle, Trent behind Kira), they began the three hour drive to the home town of the Power Rangers, as Conner kept calling it. Tommy wanted to smack him and say that it was only a city, but the other half of him was happy that the teens were so excited. _He_ was excited. He'd be able to show his team proof of his past, not just the stories that they'd managed to hear as they went along.

Unfortunately that meant letting them into another part of his life; a private part that contained the first power rangers, Zordon, Alpha, and especially Kimberly. He wasn't sure he wanted to do that. Granted, there was no turning back, especially once they passed under a sign that read "Angel Grove five miles". Tommy realized he'd been arguing with himself the entire drive. He hadn't even noticed that the constant arguing in the back seat had stopped and all chatter had started to die down as they neared the city limits. Trent nudged the sleeping Kira awake, as they passed the sign that welcomed them to Angel Grove. The four teens sat awestruck as Tommy drove through the city. Every once and a while he'd see something, a scorch mark or a scrape in the wall, that were the remains of a battle from long ago. He didn't say anything; they're be plenty of time for nostalgia later. At the moment he needed to get himself and the teens to the hotel.

The moment he parked the car, Conner bolted out and into the building. Tommy shot Ethan and Trent a questioning look. The two laughed and admitted that he'd had to pee since they entered the city but was too stunned to say anything. Tommy just laughed, along with them and Kira and then proceeded to the check in counter, while the guys got the bags out of the car and Kira fetched one of the carts. It took fifteen minutes for them all to get upstairs and into the rooms. Tommy was a bit more relieved about his decision to take his own room, when he saw they connected. A knock on the door revealed a maid with a rollaway, which he eagerly gave to Kira. The three guys would take turns on the two beds, one sleeping on the floor each night. He retreated to his own room, after reminding Trent and Kira what he'd do if they did anything. Again, the teens turned red, while there friends made gagging sounds. This time Kira slammed her heel into skin on their feet, causing both to fall over in pain.

Tommy snickered as he heard the boys whine that Kira had hurt them again and then start arguing over who got the beds, until Kira suggested rock paper scissors. He went to the phone and dialed Haley's number. He'd already instructed the teens to call their parents as soon as possible, and he waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, its me. We're here."

"All of you? No one's dead?" Haley asked, a bit of amusement in her voice.

"No, unfortunately, they're all alive. Which means tonight, I'm dead," he told her. They talked for a few more minutes about the trip before a costumer called Haley's attention away. Tommy promised to call her back in a few days to let her know what was going on, and to check in. Haley made him promise not to leave Conner anywhere where he could get hurt, and they hung up, just as Kira knocked on the connecting doorway. She was wearing a yellow bikini, and a white wrap. Tommy stared for a second before knocking himself out of it. She just reminded him of someone who'd been on his mind since the phone call he'd gotten a week before.

"What's up Kira?"

"Is it alright if we go to the pool for a little? We don't have to meet up with your friends until after dinner, right?"

"Yeah, pool sounds good. Give me a minute and I'll join you. Did you guys call your parents?"

"Yep. Conner's finishing up with his mom right now." Kira replied. Tommy nodded and closed the door, fished through his bags and came up with a pair of white and black swim trucks. He cringed at the black for a moment, but pulled them on anyway, and threw on a white T-shirt, hoping it would drown out the black. Judging from the faces on his students when he went back into their room, he had succeeded.

"Get your own color," he heard Trent mutter as the five of them went down in the elevator and out onto the pool deck.

"This was mine before it was yours buddy," Tommy retorted, as they took towels and put them out on a few chairs. The teens raced off to the water, but Tommy just sat down on one of the chairs, took off his t-shirt and took out his cell phone, watching the four teenagers splashing around, much as he used to when he was their age. He dialed Jason's cell number and waited as it rang, once, twice, and someone picked up on the third ring.

"Jason Scott's phone, how can I help you?"

"Billy?" Tommy asked, surprised to hear the new voice on the other line.

"Tommy! How are you?"

"I'm good. What are you doing answering Jason's phone?" he asked. Over the course of the week he'd learned that Billy had actually moved back to earth several years back, but was afraid his friends would be upset with him for leaving in the first place that he never bothered to contact them to say he'd returned. Jason and Trini had spent several hours convincing him that they would only be upset if he didn't fly straight out to California (he'd been living in Washington, D.C. with his father) immediately. Billy had been only too happy to comply and had taken the next flight out. Of course, the hotel was already booked solid, so Jason and Trini were putting him up at their place. Tommy and the others had almost rushed to Angel Grove just to see him, but he made them promise to keep to their original plans.

"Jason and Trini are outside with Jason's karate students, and he left his phone inside."

"That's right; I forgot he had his last lesson this afternoon," Tommy said, looking down at his watch. "Anyway, what are you up to?"

"Nothing much. Zach's flight got in early, so he came over. We've been enjoying listening to the genres of harmonious tunes that Jason has in his anthology." Billy replied. Tommy paused for a second. It'd been so long since he'd had to translate his friend's speech.

"Music; right," He laughed, and Billy did too. Tommy was pretty sure that Zach was laughing in the back round as well. "Anyway, tell Jason and the others that I'm here and I'll be over around seven with the kids," Tommy told him.

"Children? You have offspring?"

"Me? No way. They were earth's most recent team of Power Rangers. Jason decided they were my protégées, so I was commanded to bring them with me." Tommy explained, glancing back at the teens in the water, who were currently being yelled at by a woman in a pink and white bikini, a white sun hat on her head. Actually, she was yelling at Conner, while she was dripping wet. Tommy was pretty sure she hadn't been in the pool. "Listen Billy, one of my protégées just got himself in trouble. I'll see you tonight."

"Alright Tommy. See you later," Tommy hung up the cell phone and shoved it onto his chair before walking to the other side of the pool. He was going to kill Conner. Couldn't he do something as simple as swimming without getting into trouble? Kira saw Tommy coming and gave a pleading look that begged him to help them. Trent and Ethan looked like they were going to crack up laughing, and Conner had a look on his face that said he was wishing he was anywhere but there at the moment.

The woman was lecturing him on keeping water inside the pool, and not on women who were trying to enjoy a relaxing day by the pool before having to go and face a very awkward evening. The teens weren't exactly sure why they had to hear her life story, but they listened anyway, as she appeared like the type of woman who, while she was petite and seemed harmless, could probably kick their asses, as long as they weren't morphed (which, since they were powerless, wouldn't be happening).

"Um, excuse me miss. I'm sorry about Conner. He's not the brightest kid in the world. Let me buy you a drink to make it up to you," Tommy said, tapping the woman on the shoulder, hoping to draw her attention away from the teenagers, so they could slip away. His stepped around in front of her, so his feet were a mere inch away from the pool. The woman jumped, a bit startled. She hadn't heard him approach her. She looked up and her light brown eyes met his dark brown ones. The breath caught in his lungs as she stared at him.

"Tommy?" she asked. Surprised, Tommy stumbled backwards and landed backwards in the pool, on top of Ethan. The shocked teen, pulled himself out from under his teacher, as the four stared at him. Tommy ignored them as he fought to stand up, pushing Trent's offered help away, unconsciously. He stared at the woman that had been the cause of his embarrassing action. "Oh my god, Tommy, I'm so sorry," she was saying. The teens were still trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

"It's alright, really. I'm fine. I meant to do that. I was getting kind of hot." Tommy was stammering, trying to defend his fall, as he pulled himself back out of the water. He was aware that the Dino Thunder teens weren't the only ones staring. The woman just nodded, turning deep red, just as Tommy did.

"Ahem?" Conner asked, getting his mentor's attention. Tommy just looked at him, his body still dripping wet. He glared at the teen, and they all took the hint and left, which surprisingly caused everyone else who was watching to turn their attention else where.

"I-I'd hug you but," he began, addressing the woman in front of him. She gave him a smile and threw her arms around him, obviously not caring about the fact that she was getting wet. Tommy went stiff, unsure how to react. She felt his muscles tighten and released him, believing he hadn't meant he didn't hug her because he was soaked.

"Sorry, I-"

"It's ok. How about that drink?"

"Uh… sure, why not." She returned, looking up at him. She went back to her chair, took her hat off, reveling a pink hair tie, and pushed her feet into pink sandals. Tommy almost burst out laughing at her choice of clothing, as he relaxed a little. Meeting her again wasn't going exactly how he planned, but it wasn't absolutely horrible. "I've missed you," she told him, when she rejoined him, handing him her towel. He took it casually, and whipped some of the water off his body.

"I've missed you too, Kimberly."

* * *

"What the hell just happened?" Ethan asked, as he and the others pulled themselves out of the pool and watched Tommy walk over to the bar with the woman who'd been threatening to call the police on Conner just because he'd done a cannon ball right near her. Granted the hotel's rules clearly stated no cannon balls. It wasn't that Conner couldn't read. It was that he just didn't bother too.

"Dr. O fell on you," Kira stated simply. "Probably killed several brain cells and made you stupid like Conner," she added, as she sat down on her lounge chair. Trent just laughed and sat down beside her.

"Yeah," Conner began. "Wait a minute. Hey!"

"My point exactly. But I agree; what's up with Dr. O?" Kira asked. Trent shrugged, glancing over his shoulder, where their mentor sat, rather uncomfortably with the strange woman in the pink bikini. She didn't look any more comfortable with the situation than he did. In fact, she looked worse. Why were they sitting together if neither wanted to be in the other's company.  
"I don't know, but she's hot," Conner said.

"I wouldn't let Dr. O hear you say that Conner," Ethan advised. "Something's up between the two of them."

"Something big," Kira added, turning back around and facing the pool. Conner shook his head and looked at Ethan.

"Race you back to the pool?" The kid in the blue bathing suit grinned and took off running, Conner right behind him, leaving Kira and Trent behind on the chairs. Kira pulled out a book to read, as Trent dug out his CD player. All the better to drown out Conner and Ethan with.

* * *

"Sorry about Conner," Tommy told his old friend, as he held out a chair for her to sit down in. Kimberly blushed a bit at his action, but took the seat, none the less.

"It's alright. I blew the whole thing out of proportion. Used to do that a lot." She mumbled. Tommy nodded a bit, but didn't respond. Kimberly let the uneasy silence overtake them. This definitely wasn't how she was planning to meet him. She'd hopped to come face to face with him that night, fully clothed, looking extremely happy, when really she was aching inside to tell him that she was sorry; that everything had been one huge misunderstanding. She'd planned to be calm, cool, and collected, not yelling at teenagers for splashing water on her. She must have seemed like a bitch to him. "So, who are the kids?"

"Oh, the one in red is Conner, white is Trent, blue is Ethan, and yellow is Kira."

"Rangers?" she asked him quietly. He blinked at her and then frowned. She smiled and indicated her own pink bathing suit, her eyes jumping to his white one. Tommy smiled and relaxed a bit, and then nodded.

"Yeah. Most recent team."

"Just four? That's surprising. How'd you meet them?" She said, trying to stave off the inevitable silence that was trying to overtake them at every moment.

"I'm well, sort of their mentor," he lied. He wasn't about to tell her he was one of them. Once Kim knew, the whole group would know, and he didn't want that, or need it. Where was that stupid bar tender? "When did you get here?" he asked her, changing the subject.

"Last night. I decided to spend the day by myself, look around the town a bit. The Youth Center still looks the same; Ernie's nephew runs it," she told him as one of the bar tenders finally realized they were sitting there.

"Can I help you- TOMMY? KIMBERLY? Hey Bulky! Look who it is," the thinner of the two called to the other. Tommy and Kimberly looked at one another and then back at the two hotel bar tenders.

"Skull? Bulk?" Kim asked, not believing what she was seeing. Skull was a bit heavier than he used to be, and Bulk was a bit thinner, but otherwise the two old high school bullies looked just as they remembered. "What are you doing here?"

"Working, duh. And I thought I was the dim one," Skull responded. "Wow… when did you two get back together? What happened to that Australian girl, Tommy? Kat was her name?"

Tommy and Kimberly blushed deeper than they had ever before. Bulk frowned at them for a moment, and then hit his partner upside the head. "Sorry. It seems some people still need to grow up a bit," he told them, indicating his partner. Tommy nodded, and Kim just kept her eyes diverted. "Anyway, what can I get for you two?"

"Just a beer for me," Tommy told him.

"I'll take a Mudslide," Kimberly added, getting out her credit card. Tommy handed Bulk his before she got the chance, and sent him away.

"Tommy, really."

"I said I'd buy you a drink because of Conner's stupidity, and just because the woman he splashed turns out to be my ex-girlfriend, doesn't mean I'm not going to keep my word."

Kimberly nodded. So there it was. She was the ex-girlfriend, nothing more, nothing less. She wondered what Kat was. Was she just another ex-girlfriend? Or was she an ex-girlfriend that was also a friend? Maybe she wasn't an ex-girlfriend.

Tommy could have kicked himself. He so hadn't meant that the way it sounded. He had just meant that it didn't matter what their relationship was, he was going to buy her a drink, because he wanted to. But no, he had to stupidly go and upset her. What would the other's say? Trini and Jason would probably be kicking him as well; Zach would be laughing; and Billy would be trying to pretend nothing happened. He sighed. He felt like he was back in high school: never sure what to do, what to say, or how to get out of a bad situation. The only thing that was different this time was that he didn't have one of Lord Zedd or Rita's evil monsters breaking loose in the city as an excuse to get away.

"Thanks. I like your hair, by the way."

"Yeah, it was time for a change," he told her. He didn't add that he'd done it because Haley had tried to put little red bows in it their freshman year in college, and he needed to stop her. Bringing up Haley around Kimberly at the moment probably wasn't the best idea. Not after what Skull had said.

Bulk returned with their drinks, and Tommy's card, which he slid back into his wallet. "So, what are you two doing here?"

"Visiting friends," Kim told him. Tommy just nodded. Bulk smiled.

"Sure you are. You being here has nothing to do with the upcoming celebration in two weeks," He told them, suspiciously.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Tommy told him, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Well, Skully and I are using it as our last chance to find out who they are, or were, or, well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," Tommy told him.

"See you around guys," Kimberly added as she and Tommy began walking away from the bar. "Do you think they know something?" she asked.

"Those two? Not even if they live to be a hundred." Tommy replied as they heard the sound of a blender crushing metal behind them and then a loud crash. They both winced. "And I don't think they'll make it to that age."

"You're probably right. Anyway, I should be heading back to my room. But I'll see you tonight?" Kimberly asked him as they neared the teens. Tommy ran his free hand through his hair and nodded.

"Of course. I'll see you at Jason and Trini's later. Have a good afternoon." She nodded, unsure exactly how to part from his company. After another moment of awkward silence, she nodded again and took off towards the elevator. Tommy groaned and sat down on a lounge chair beside Trent. Both the white and yellow rangers were staring at him, questioning looks on their faces. Tommy just glared at them, and the two teens backed off. He pulled on his t-shirt, grabbed his other belongings, and checked to make sure Kira had the teenager's room key before instructing them to be ready at six fifteen (give them forty five minutes for Conner to forget something and for getting lost so they could still arrive on time) and heading back to his room.

He double locked his front door, as well as the connecting door to Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent's room, and headed into the bathroom, making sure the room's blinds were drawn. He didn't think anyone would be sneaking a peek in his room seven stories off the ground, but you never knew. Turning on the shower to about as hot as he could stand and not burn himself, he took off his trunks and t-shirt and stepped inside, letting the warm water run over his body for some time before he began to start using the hotel's brand of soap. By the time he got out, it was an hour and a half later, and there was very little hot water still flowing from the shower head.

Feeling much better than he had since falling in the pool, he toweled himself dry, wrapped the terry cloth device around his waist and went out into his room. Glancing at the clock which read five thirty, he placed his ear against the connecting room door. He could hear the shower running, as well as the TV going. Everything else was fairly quiet. They'd actually listened to him for once, and it appeared that Ethan and Conner were too tired from splashing random women to make much sound, let alone trouble. For the teens, it seemed the pool had been a very, very good idea.

Forty minutes later he pulled on a pair of khaki pants, and a green shirt, with a white button down over it. He tied his shoes, and unbolted the door between the two rooms, then knocked, incase Kira had locked the boys in the bathroom and proceeded to change in the wide hotel room. He actually figured she'd do it. Ethan opened the door and let him in. Trent was dressed similarly to Tommy, except his pants were white, and his T-shirt was grey. Conner wore a pair of black pants and button down red shirt. Ethan was wearing khaki's like Tommy, but had a blue polo on. Kira was at the sink, finishing the light bit of makeup she'd decided to wear. She wore a pair of white caprice and yellow tank top. She turned around and smiled when Tommy came in.

"Still no black, Dr. O?" she asked, teasing him.

"I told you. I don't intend for them to find out," he retorted.

"But they do know about us? They're not going to be like 'who the hell are those creepy teenagers following you around', right?" Ethan asked, getting a bit alarmed.

"Yes Ethan, they know about you: that you were power rangers. They just think I was your mentor, and we're going to stick with that, or those days you've been spending at my place will become filled with chores: like cleaning up my office."

"You're secrets safe with me."

"Me too!"

"Ditto!"

"Don't even joke about that."

"Alright then; we ready to go?" he asked them. They all nodded, and followed him out to the car. They piled in, Kira claiming shot gun again, and winning it after threatening to paint Conner's toe nails while he slept that night. Trent had already backed down, and Ethan did as well, hearing what the former yellow ranger would do to Conner. They got to Jason's place at five minutes to seven, only to see four cars already there: three rental cars, and a red SUV, with a yellow bumper sticker in one corner that said "yes, my wife lets me drive the car". Tommy laughed a bit and climbed out of the car, the four teens suddenly quieter than they'd ever been while conscious. Tommy looked at them for a minute and then shook his head. They were scared. It was funny. He walked up onto the porch and rang the door bell. There was a lot of barking and paws running on hard wood floors, followed by the running of human footsteps (someone in heals). The door was flung open and a black and yellow blur flew out the door and attached itself around his neck before he even had the chance to react, nearly knocking him over. The two huge boxers, the sources of the barking were jumping around madly, wagging their tails, and smelling every new person they could find. Both wore collars that were red, blue, yellow, pink, black, and white, although one had a red tag, and the other had a yellow tag.

"Alpha, Zordon! Heel!" Jason's voice called from inside, and both dogs immediately retreated back into the house, and down the stairs to the basement.

"Alpha? Zordon?" Tommy asked his friend as he tried to pry Trini off of him. During the whole thing, Jason, Zach, Billy, and Kimberly had come out of the house as well, and were standing on the porch, or leaning in the doorway.

"Yeah, well," Jason didn't need to explain. He knew that Tommy would understand; which of course he did.

"Trini, I can't breathe," Tommy laughed, when his friend wouldn't let go.

"No. No way. If I let go, you'll disappear again," the Asian woman retorted. Tommy just shook his head.

"No, I won't; I promise. Jason, a little help here?"

"She did the same to us, bro. She'll let go in an hour or so," Zach told him. Tommy looked up at his old friend. Zach looked much the same as ever. No dread locks though, but he still had a multicolored vest on over his black polo and black pants. The two men shook hands and pulled on another into a one armed hug as Trini let go, only to hit Zach in the shoulder. The former black ranger moved aside so Billy could greet his friend. The former blue ranger wasn't wearing his characteristic overalls, although granted, in his later years as a ranger, they had become increasing less frequent. Instead he wore much the same as the younger red ranger, only adding a black tie to the mix and of course, his shirt was blue.

"You stuck with white," Billy commented as they pulled one another into an embrace. "Well, green's got bad memories, and red belongs to Jason," he responded as Jason came forward to hug his best friend. Jason wore a simple red polo and a pair of khaki pants. His outfit greatly complimented Trini's yellow sundress.

"Of course. Its good to see you, bro."

"You too." Tommy answered, as the former red ranger stepped aside. Kimberly's eyes met Tommy's and they both knew their friends were standing there, hoping they'd run into one another's arms, and Kim would start sobbing and they'd be back together. They stepped closer together, and mentally promised not to mention seeing the other earlier that day as they gave one another a weak embrace. They pushed away and studied one another, Tommy taking quick note of how beautiful she looked in a pink knee length skirt and white tank top. Granted, nothing would compare to the bikini she wore earlier.

"Hey," he said quietly, breaking the tension that had filled the air. The other four former ranger were looking back and fourth at one another, not knowing that the tension was because of earlier that day, and not because of ten year prior.

"Hey," she said back, nearly inaudible.

"Well, why don't we go inside, and Tommy can introduce his friends," Trini said, breaking the silence that had descended. Jason was considering bringing Alpha and Zordon back out to snap everyone out of it.

"Friends?" Tommy asked, looking back at the awestruck teenagers behind him. "Oh right. Guys? Kira?" He waved his hand in front of the young woman's face. She barely blinked. Tommy just shook his head. "Better do those introductions out here. I don't think they'll move otherwise." The other's nodded and laughed. "Guys, this is Conner, red; Kira, yellow; Ethan, blue; and Trent, white; Kids, this is Jason, red; Trini, yellow; Billy, blue; Zack, black; and Kimberly, pink." Tommy informed them.

"I'm gratified to make your acquaintance." Billy said, holding his hand out to Ethan. The younger man snapped out of his stupor and took it.

"Like wise." Ethan said.

"He understood Billy?" Zach asked, as Kira and Trent stared at the two in blue, confused.

"Of course I did. He only said he's pleased to meet me." Ethan shrugged. Everyone just laughed, even Billy.

"When we were adolescents, my peers had difficulty understanding my extensive terminology." Billy explained and Ethan nodded.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Trini said to Kira, who smiled and shook her hand.

"Its nice to meet you too." Both girls grinned at Billy.

"See, Billy, they know how to speak human," Zach joked, before offering his hand to Trent.

"Welcome to Angel Grove."

"Thanks," Trent responded as Jason approached Conner.

"Hey Conner; Its nice to meet a fellow red," Jason told him. Conner just swallowed and nodded. "Is he ok?" Jason whispered to Tommy. Tommy just shook his head.

"I think he had one too many blows to the head. The helmet only protect against so much," his friend responded, causing everyone to laugh, except Conner who was still staring at Jason.

"Well, lets go inside, shall we. Its getting a bit cooler now that the sun's gone," Trini suggested. "We were thinking about ordering Chinese?"

"That sounds great," Tommy told her as he followed everyone inside. Ethan and Trent had to drag Conner. "I'm starving."

* * *

Ok, so it's a start. I've always wondered what a reunion could/would be like. I wrote this a year ago, in Spanish class cause I was bored and didn't want to listen to my professor. I tried to tweak it a bit and make it better, so I kind of hoped you liked it. Even if you didn't, that's fine with me, like I said, I did it because my imagination needed an outlet. I'll probably continue this… actually, I'm pretty sure I will.

Fateless Wanderer (and her inner child)


	2. The Problem with Dinosaurs

So due to overwhelming reviews, I've decided to get the next chapter up asap. I don't know if every chapter will be up this quickly, it all depends on if I get inspiration to keep going or not. I've had this idea for a while, but I only wrote the first chapter, so the rest of it has to be written from the outline I put together last year, so it could take a while. Anyway, you don't need to listen to me ramble. Enjoy.

Oh, and this is a repost of the second chapter because of a few editing mistakes, so I'd also like to reply to a review I received. I'll also be posting this at the beginning of chapter 3:

**I have read and absolutely love and enjoy _Of Love and Bunnies_ by CrazyGirl47****, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a much better reunion fic than mine. However, mine is not based off of hers, though I do understand how one would think so. It is very, very hard not to have similarities as we both believed in the pairings of Trent and Kira, Jason and Trini, and of course Tommy and Kimberly. I am aware that there are other pairings (Kira and Conner, Trini and Billy, Jason and Kat, Tommy and Kat) but I've never been as fond of them. It is also impossible to create major differences in the characters as CrazyGirl47 does a magnificent job of keeping everyone in character. To deviate, I would have to write everyone out of character and thus damage the story. The characters were laid down by Saban, and to make Billy an idiot and Conner the most intelligent man alive, would be very, very wrong. **

**I've several chapters outlined, and I can tell you now, I don't plan on any reminiscing involving actually telling the story in flashback (all reminiscing will actually be told through the mouths of the adult rangers, while polite (or on some occasions, not so polite) banter is traded); nor will any of the rangers make a purposeful public appearance until the actual ceremony (no promises that they might not make stupid mistakes hint); there is a possibility of monsters attacking, but I don't want to go to far into that; Bulk and Skull will actually play a large part in this; Ernie will not make any actual appearances (most probable, a letter. And before anyone says anything: Every true MMPR fan knows that Ernie has ALWAYS KNOWN); Billy does not live on Aquitar for reasons that are as of yet, undisclosed; his current job will actually be something of a surprise (I did mention Washington DC, but everything else is saved for a later chapter); and there will be several major problems among the Dino thunder teens (one that I have hinted at, at least twice now.); I'm possibly considering character death (its not definite, but here's a heads up); the whole story will span at least a two week period (if not stretch beyond); and I DO NOT guarantee a final reunion of Tommy and Kimberly (although he will not chose Kat. No offense to the other pink ranger, but I much rather Tommy be single than with her). So yes, I hope that will put everyone's fears to rest that I have based _Requiem of an Era_ off of _Of Love and Bunnies_. Once again, I would like to recommend that you read it, as I believe it is much better than my own, and she deserves a lot of praise for what she writes. **

**

* * *

**

Tommy wanted to curse Jason into oblivion for buying a house with thin hallways, as his shoulder collided with Kimberly's as the group made their way into the living room. Tommy felt his ever constant (lately) blush returning, but was determined to keep it from showing. He mumbled a quick apology and seated himself on the couch between the already seated Zach and Kira, leaving Kim to sit on the other side of the couch between the two yellow rangers. Jason looked from one to the other, with poor Kira trapped between them, looking confused. He shook his head and went to find the take out menu and the phone, while Trini got out a pen and pad, and quickly began to write down what she wanted, and then passed it to Kimberly.

"There's so many of us; this seemed like the best way to take the orders without messing up," she explained to the rest of the group as Kimberly finished hers and attempted to pass the pad to Conner. The former red ranger just stared at her.

"Tommy? I'm really worried about your friend. Perhaps we should use smelling salts?" she asked. Tommy just laughed and shook his head.

"I think he's just in awe. I'm pretty sure since he never really expected to be a ranger, he never thought he'd get to meet the original Power Rangers," Kira explained. Kimberly nodded, but still was worried. It wasn't like they were some major Hollywood celebrities. Hero worship was something she wasn't cut out for. Seeing Conner made all the former rangers glad no one ever knew their identities.

"Kira's right. We'll do something about it if he doesn't snap out of it when the food gets here," Ethan added, taking the pad from Kimberly and placing his and Conner's usual Chinese orders. He, Conner, and Trent were seated on the floor, Trent's back against Kira's legs. Kira had ended up with Kimberly on her left, and Tommy on her left. Trini sat on the other side of Kim, and Zach and Billy occupied the last two spaces on the opposite side of Tommy.

"Sounds like Rocky," Jason said coming back in as Ethan handed the pad over to Trent. "And Zach," he added as an afterthought. The former black ranger gave him a mock glare and threw one of the couch's pillows at his head, which Jason easily dodged.

"Who's Rocky?" Trent asked the older rangers as his girlfriend took the order pad from him, and gave him a light tap on the head, playfully.

"The second red ranger," Trini told him.

"Affirmative. When Trini, Zach, and Jason were accepted for the peace conference, we needed to find apposite surrogates for their eminences in the assemblage so we wouldn't be at a titanic hindrance if Lord Zedd commenced with the customary hostilities," Billy told them. The former rangers, more out of habit, turned and looked at Trini, while the teens (except for Conner, who still appeared to have been turned into a vegetable) looked at Ethan.

Trini shook her head as the pad finally made it to Tommy. "No way; you're all adults. You can understand him if you try."

"But its too much work," Zach whined, stealing the pad from the paleontologist. Tommy grabbed it back, hit him with it, and then tossed it around him to Billy who was grinning.

"Trini's right; All he said was when the three of them went to the peace conference, we needed three new members on the team so that Lord Zedd wouldn't mutilate the remaining three of us."

"No fair, bro. You have a PhD," Jason complained from his seat on the armrest beside his wife.

"PhD? Really? In what?" Billy asked, handing the pad back to Zach who quickly finished his order and tossed it to Jason across the room.

"Paleontology," Tommy responded as Trini and Jason went into the kitchen to make the phone call to the restaurant. They'd already heard about what Tommy'd been doing since they last saw him; he'd been working on the PhD when he and Jason went on the moon mission.

"Wow, I never would have thought that," Zach told him.

"I did," Billy laughed. Zach and Tommy looked at him, questioning how he knew.

"So did I," Kimberly threw in, and Tommy shifted his attention to the woman on the other side of the yellow ranger. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You know you enjoyed yourself on Phaedos, riding that skeleton," Kim told him. Tommy blushed a deep red.

"Phaedos?" Trent asked. He, Kira, and Ethan were grinning like kids on Christmas. Tommy groaned. This was exactly what the teens were waiting for; what he dreaded: stories of their science teacher as a teen.

"When we were rangers, after Rocky, Adam, and Aisha joined the assemblage, a construction crew accidentally unearthed a giant egg while the six of us were partaking in a Jump-a-thon to save the local observatory," Billy began.

"You sky dived, Dr. O?" Kira asked.

"Wow. We should do that some time," Ethan added.

"Yes Kira, and no way in hell would I sky dive with you and Conner." Tommy told them.

"Anyway, Lord Zedd thought to conscript the being inside the egg for his own devices and sent his minions to release Ivan Ooze."

"I still say he was the grossest thing we ever fought," Kimberly threw in. Billy and Tommy nodded and laughed, while Zach just laughed, having never met the being.

"With a name like Ivan Ooze, I don't doubt it," Kira told her, a disgusted look on her face, which made Trent, Ethan, and Tommy laugh.

"Be glad your villains had names like Zeltrax and Elsa, then," Tommy told them, "although, Ooze wasn't that bad."

"Are you kidding? That was one of the worst experiences of my ranger career," Kimberly retorted, hitting him in the head with a pillow. Tommy just tossed one back, forgetting his reservations about interacting with the ex-girlfriend. Somehow, talking in a group, reliving memories, it definitely relaxed him; put him at ease. Although he had to be careful, or they'd find out he hadn't stopped at red.

"So, what happened?" Ethan begged, looking expectantly at his blue predecessor.

"Well, Ivan used his ooze to control the minds of the adult constituents of the Angel Grove population. He forced them to excavate his Ectomorphicon Titans: Hornitor and Scorpitron. Ivan refused Lord Zedd's leadership and attacked our command center, after imprisoning Zedd and Rita in a snow globe. He decimated it and incapacitated Zordon, destroying our powers in the process. Although we defeated the first group of slime like creatures he sent after us, we were ultimately rendered defenseless."

"Zordon? As in Jason's dog?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, Zordon was our mentor, and Alpha 5 was his robotic assistant," Zach fielded the kid's question.

"Zordon was like a father to us," Tommy added and the other three nodded.

"Alpha used the last bit of the command center's power to send us to Phaedos where a Great Power was said to reside. The command center could get us there, but in order to return, we had to be successful; Of course, we took the risk." Kimberly had picked up the story. "And well, many had tried before us, and failed. We saw their bones covering the ground only moments after we arrived."

"No offense, but how exactly does this relate to Dr. O and his degree?" Trent cut her off. Kira hit him, as Kimberly laughed.

"I'm getting to it, I promise. Ivan sent his Tengu warriors after us, and they attacked before we'd even been there for five minutes."

"Tengu warriors?" Kira questioned. Trent sighed. If they kept asking questions, they'd never get to the point.

"Bird like, ugly things; Annoy as hell, too," Tommy explained.

"Ahh, got it. You were saying?"

"A woman name Dulcea showed up and chased them off with a stick: kind of a blow to Tommy and Rocky's egos, especially when she knocked Tommy flat on his back, but hey. She set us off on the quest for the Great Power, after giving us the powers of our Nigetti guardians: the bear for Aisha, the ape for Rocky, the frog for Adam, the crane for Kimberly, the falcon for Tommy, and the wolf for myself," Billy picked up the story as Trini came back in, and Jason left, with Zach, to get the food. Tommy had tried to go along, but the former black and red rangers had insisted that he should stay, saying he knew the story better. Tommy glared at their innocent looks, knowing they just wanted him to stay with Kimberly. "Well, while we journeyed across the forests of Phaedos, we accidentally awoke a living dinosaur skeleton, which Tommy ended up riding like a bronco. He really looked like he enjoyed himself, until he grabbed the shoulder blade and decapitated it."

"I swear, he looked like a kid in a candy store," Kimberly laughed.

"I did not!" Tommy defended himself, as the teens burst out laughing (except for vegetable boy).

"Sure, Tommy; whatever you say," Kimberly told him, amusement in her voice. Tommy glared at her; the look he used on the teens to get them to back off. Kim just raised her eyebrows at him and stuck out her tongue.

"Really mature, Kim," Trini told her, getting up to let Alpha and Zordon upstairs for dinner. Better to feed the four legged members of the Scott family before the humans ate, otherwise, the dogs would be begging table scraps.

"So, what happened?" Ethan prompted. Obviously they'd gotten back, and Angel Grove was still intact, but he wanted details. Billy grinned, enjoying the teenagers' enthusiasm.

"We managed to make it to the other end of Phaedos with the assistance of the ningetti spirits. We had to prove ourselves against gargoyles before the Great Power was finally granted to us, reactivating the powers Zordon had given us, and making them stronger. It immediately put us back in morphed form," he explained.

"It also gave us new zords, each matching the animal spirit we'd been given. We rushed back to Angel Grove, only to find that Ivan had been busy while we were absent. The Ectomorphitrons had been destroying the city. Ivan had sent the adults off with an order to jump to their death. The kids of Angel Grove, under the leadership of one of the children we knew, Fred Kelmen, made it their mission to save them. We left them to it," Tommy told the teens. "I think Fred's an engineer now."

"Yeah, I read about him in a news paper a few years back. He got a scholarship and was working on his degree," Kimberly said. Tommy nodded and leaned back on the couch, enjoying reminiscing with his friends. "Anyway, with the help of the new zords, we defeated Scorpitron," Kimberly picked up as Trini returned with two well behaved and well fed dogs. Alpha (red tag) laid down at her feet when she returned to her spot on the couch, while his brother, Zordon (yellow tag) planted his head in Tommy's lap. The former ranger scratched him behind his ears as Kim continued the story. "But before we could get at the Hornitor, Ivan morphed into it, and destroyed part of the monorail track. For the first time we assembled the Ninja Megazord, although Tommy wasn't able to complete formation. The kids had decided to use the monorail to get to the construction site and save their parents, but as I said, the track had been destroyed. He used the falcon zord to create a bridge for the tram while we fought Ivan. We weren't doing too well, but the kids managed to get to the construction site, and Fred used water to break the spell on the adults."

"What did you want me to do? Let the monorail crash?" Tommy asked her playfully.

"No, but a diminutive amount of assistance more rapidly might have been advantageous," Billy told him. "When Tommy finally arrived, we assembled the Ninja Mega Falconzord which allowed us to take Ivan into space and plant him in the trajectory of a comet, which ultimately destroyed him. We rushed back to the command center and used the Great Power to save Zordon from near death."

"There was a huge celebration that night, with Fireworks. I liked the fireworks," Kimberly laughed. "Although, they might have been bigger if Mr. Late, wasn't late."

"I did my best! What did you want?" he said, hitting Kimberly with the pillow again.

"A faster leader," she told him playfully.

"Leader?" Ethan asked. "I thought the red ranger was the leader."

"Not all the time," Trini told him. "Zordon had Jason step down as leader when Tommy became the white ranger. He kept the position over Rocky due to seniority, although he was red when he led the Zeo rangers. Jason never took it back when he was the Zeo gold ranger."

"And the Time force pink ranger a few years ago was more the official leader than the red," Tommy told them.

"Then how come we ended up with Conner?" Trent asked, waving his hand in front of the boy's face. He actually got him to blink, but that was about it.

"Conner's not always the most intelligent guy, but he fights with his heart, and he was a good leader." Tommy told them. Kira, Ethan, and Trent nodded.

Every one's attention began to wander as food had still not arrived. Billy, Trini, and Ethan eventually formed a group and were discussing computers while Trini had given Kira and Trent permission to look through her and Jason's music collection. The air in the room was filled with the snores of sleeping dogs, the chatter from the two blues and the former yellow ranger, and the ever changing music coming out of the speakers on the wall. Unfortunately, while the room was filled with plenty of activity, it cause a problem for Tommy. He was left with no one else to talk to except Kimberly. If he joined Kira and Trent he'd seem out of place. And he knew there was no chance, even with his PhD, of understanding the others' conversation. He glanced over his shoulder at Trini and Billy, sure that this was their idea, before turning his attention to the former pink ranger. She was sitting in uneasy silence, just as he was, but due to his own negligence, he didn't seem to notice.

"So, um… you look good," Tommy told her, attempting to talk to her. Kimberly nodded. During the story it'd been so easy just to talk to him, to joke around, as if nothing had ever happened. Why was it so difficult now? It was as if a wall that had grown between them had been pulled down while they reminisced, but it was back now that they were stuck in the present.

"Thanks. You too. You always looked good in white," she told him casually.

"Thanks." Wow, they were really off and running now. Where was a blaster when he needed one? Why couldn't mesagog have actually succeeded in killing him? It would have prevented this endless torture. And where were Jason and Zach with the food? He glanced at his watch. It was eight, already. "So, how's gymnastics going?"

"Oh, I quit that years ago. I was never really cut out for it. After that whole, well, Divatox thing, I moved to New York and got a degree in fashion. I work for a design company now in Manhattan." She explained, happily. Suddenly she realized that he was frowning. They both realized how little they knew each other. Sure, none of them had seen one another in years, and they were best friends, but with Tommy, it hurt worst. At least Kimberly had made an effort to stay in touch with Trini, and through her, Jason (at least in the past few months). Destiny had helped them find Zach a week before, and no one really blamed Billy for moving to another planet and losing contact. However, she'd never made an attempt to at least stay friends with Tommy, and they'd had something special, at least at one point in their lives. "How about racing?"

"Gone. I had a small accident where I broke both my legs. After that, I turned to Dinosaurs and got my PhD," he explained, thinking the same thing she did. What happened? Why were they never able to be friends? He was mad at her for the letter, yeah, but he knew that if she'd ever called him and said, lets be friends, he'd have jumped at the chance. He'd do it even if she asked now.

And with that thought it hit him. He and Jason were friends. He and Trini were friends. He was friends with Billy and with Zach. He'd even spoken to Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Kat, and Tanya in the past years; But he and Kim, they weren't friends. They weren't anything. They were just there.

His thoughts were interrupted when Jason threw the door open and he and Zach barged in singing ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall at the top of their lungs.

"Jason Scott! You'll wake the neighbors if you keep that up," Trini yelled at him as she and Kim went to take the bags from the guys and took them too the dinning room. Tommy sighed with relief when she was gone, and Jason plopped beside him on the couch, and Zach joined Kira and Trent, throwing in his own knowledge of music.

"So, how'd it go?" Jason asked him.

"How'd what go?" Tommy responded, pretending he had no idea what his best friend was talking about. Jason gave him one of those 'spill it or I'll step on you with my dragon zord' looks, and Tommy sighed. He hadn't the energy left to return the stare with his own 'not if I use my tiger zord to crush you first' looks. "I don't know. It went. We relaxed. Told a story about how we were stupid teenagers who traveled to distant planets and kicked alien ass, and everything was suddenly fine again. I was seventeen again. And then the story ended, and I was me, and she was well, Kimberly, and it was over. What'd you expect?"

"More than that to be honest," Jason told him. "I don't know. When you showed me that letter the first time, well, I didn't know what to think. But I visited her a week or two later, bro, and there was no other guy; at least none that I could see."

"Sure. If you say so."

"I'm serious. I think there's more to it than she said; I think you should try talking to her." Jason told him as the girls called the group to the table. Kira, Trent, and Ethan grabbed hold of Conner and dragged him, while Zach and Billy followed, laughing at the poor youth, and Billy really began considering Kimberly's idea of smelling salts.

"About something that happened ten years ago? I don't think so." Tommy answered, following the group. Trini sat at one end of the large table, while Jason sat at the other. Kimberly was on Trini's right, and Conner on her left. Billy sat beside Kim, with Zach on his other side, and Tommy took the last seat between Zach and Jason. Ethan sat across from Billy, Trent across from Zach, and Kira across from Tommy, finishing their group. Normal dinner conversation resumed, the teens occasionally begging to hear another story about when the adults were power rangers. The only answer they received was that they would have to wait until after dinner at the earliest. Suddenly Conner's senses renewed when Ethan waved a bit of food in front of him. He blinked several times, and looked around at his friends. He eyes settled on Kimberly who was across from him.

"Dude! That's the woman from the pool!" he stated, interrupting all conversations. Kimberly's eyes went wide, and Tommy dropped his fork as the other four adults started at them. Ethan snickered, and Trent slapped his forehead, while Kira muttered about killing idiotic red rangers.

"What pool?" Trini asked Tommy suspiciously.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with your abrupt conclusion of our telephone discussion this afternoon?" Billy asked him. Tommy picked up his fork like it was no big deal.

"I ran into Kimberly at the pool this afternoon. It's no big deal," Tommy said, Kimberly just nodded.

"No big deal? She made you fall into it! You nearly killed Ethan."

"Conner, shut up or he's going to kill you," Kira snapped at him. Jason however, was glaring daggers at his best friend.

"Want to explain?"

"There's nothing to explain," Tommy shot back. "Conner splashed her, and she was yelling at him, so I went over, was startled to see her, fell in the pool, and then bought her a drink." He nearly yelled, but managed to keep his voice down. "I should have let her kill him," he muttered. Only Zach heard him, but kept it to himself.

"Kim?" Trini asked.

"He's right. It's no big deal. We met up, he bought me a drink. If you want to talk about news, the bar tenders were Bulk and Skull," Kimberly told them, still blushing a bit. She would kill the teenager red ranger if Tommy gave her the chance. Luckily, mentioning the two high school bullies seemed to do the trick, as the adults finally let go of the conversation as Ethan passed Trent a ten dollar bill.

"You're kidding?" Billy asked.

"Nope; still as idiotic as ever; Skull put on some weight though, and Bulk lost some," Tommy told them.

"And they're still determined to unmask the Angel Grove Power Rangers. We're going to have to watch our backs at the ceremony," Kimberly added. Glad that Tommy hadn't mentioned what Skull had said to them.

"They're still on that?" Jason asked, groaning. He really didn't like the idea of having to look over his shoulder all the time and make sure some idiot wasn't trying to yank his helmet off; especially since he and the other's didn't have the ability to teleport anymore.

"Yep. But they're no more dangerous than they were when we were kids."

"Who are Bulk and Skull?" Kira asked, while Ethan argued with Trent that no one really won since it took Conner nearly an hour to snap back to reality. Trent was arguing that they never said it had to be exact. Just whoever was closest. Conner seemed oblivious to them both, his concentration entirely on the conversation in front of him.

"They were oppressors in high school that tried to expose the factual identities of the Power Rangers. Their enterprises were always futile," Billy told her.

"Like Cassidy and Devin, although less intelligent," Tommy added, seeing that the two teenagers paying attention were still confused.

"Is that even possible?" Conner asked him. Tommy nodded.

"Unfortunately."

"And they still want to figure out who you guys are?" Kira asked. Kimberly and Tommy nodded slowly. "How are you guys going to show up anyway?"

"We all have our old suits that were on display in the Power Chamber during our years as Zeo rangers," Tommy explained.

"Well, Tommy, Billy, and I have those. The red, yellow, and black suits are with Rocky, Aisha, and Adam because while there isn't much power left, Jason, Trini, and Zach can still morph."

"So that's what's in the box in Dr. O's room," Conner said. Ethan hit him in the stomach.

"But Dr. O, you said the power coins were all destroyed," Ethan said, finally giving up the losing argument with Trent and the two had joined the conversation. Billy blushed a bit, remembered when that happened.

"They were. But Aisha, Rocky, and Adam got their powers from separate coins than Jason, Trini, and Zach. The sword of light was used to make that transfer, while Kimberly actually gave her power coin to her replacement Kat, when she left the team."

"You left?" Conner asked. Kimberly nodded.

"But that's a story for another day," Tommy told them. They'd been at the table for nearly an hour and it was getting late. "We'd better help clean up and head back to the hotel for the night."

"I'd should get going, too," Zach told them, standing up. "I'm exhausted."

"Tommy, Kira mentioned that she was staying in the room with Trent, Ethan, and Conner, and since I've got my own room, maybe she could stay with me?" Kimberly offered. Tommy looked from the pouting yellow ranger back to his ex-girlfriend. While it would be good not to worry about Kira and Trent, it probably wasn't a good idea to put Kira in the same room as Kimberly when he wasn't around. Unfortunately, Trini was giving him a look that said she'd find a way to activate her power daggers if he said no.

"Sure, I guess that would be cool."

'Great," Kimberly said smiling. "Why don't you guys head back to the hotel, and Kira and I can help Trini clean up. I can drive her back, and we'll stop at her room and get her stuff."

"Sounds good to me," Tommy replied, looking from a wounded Trent, whom Kira was kissing goodnight, to a grinning Trini. Jason, Billy, and Zach wore innocent 'we had nothing to do with this' faces, and while he figured they knew about it, he was sure the idea was Trini's. Why did he have to have friends who were plotting against him?

Tommy followed Zach out, while Conner and Ethan dragged Trent away from his girlfriend, telling the youth that they'd see her in the morning. Trini sent Jason and Billy to see them out and then told Jason that Alpha and Zordon probably needed to go for walk as she, Kira, and Kimberly set about clearing the table from dinner.

"So?" Trini asked her friend. Kimberly just looked at her.

"So what?" Kimberly answered, as Kira passed her another plate.

"So, Tommy kept blushing when ever you talked to him earlier. And when you were talking about that trip to Phaedos you both looked really happy." Trini retorted. "What's going on?"

"Nothings going on Trini," Kim shot back at her friend. "At least nothing to my knowledge. We were just remembering the past."

"Sure. And your comment about him always looking good in white was nothing as well."

"You heard that?" Kim asked as the three girls retreated to the kitchen.

"Of course. Admit it, you still think he's hot," Trini teased, and Kimberly blushed.

"Whoa. I don't think I should be hearing about my mentor's old friends thinking he's hot," Kira told them, causing Trini to laugh.

"You're not. You're hearing one of his old friends convincing his old girlfriend that _she_ still thinks he's hot."

"You and Dr. O?" Kira asked Kimberly, disbelieving. Not that Kimberly wasn't pretty, because she was. It was just that Kira had a hard time believing her teacher had any type of private life. He was just the old science teacher with a secret power ranger lair in his basement.

"Yes, but that was years ago. Many years ago," Kimberly said, stressing more to Trini than to Kira. "I'ts over now."

"So that explains why he fell in the pool," Kira laughed. Kimberly joined her.

"I still can't believe he did that."

"You mean Conner was serious? He really fell in the pool when he saw you?" Trini said, with disbelief.

"Yeah, well, I sort of startled him. I doubt he was expecting to run into me, and he was only an inch away from the edge," Kimberly explained. "He wasn't always smooth, you know."

"Really? What was he like as a teenager?" Kira asked, sitting up on the counter, as she passed the dishes to Trini, who washed, and then passed them to Kimberly who dried.

"Let me guess? She wants to know what Tommy was like as a kid?" Jason asked, coming into the kitchen and shooing Kimberly away from the drying area, taking the towel from her and the next dish from his wife."Let's see, a pain in the ass, always late; always forgetting stuff, too. And of course, a total jerk until we broke that spell."

"Spell? Oh right, when he was evil," Kira said, as Billy joined Kimberly at the kitchen table where the dogs were enjoying getting their ears scratched.

"You're going to spoil them," Trini told her friends. "He told you about that?"

"Well, not in detail. Just that he started off evil until the spell Rita Repulsa had on him was broken, and he joined you guys."

"Well, that's his chronicle to acquaint you with. I wouldn't feel right disclosing such crucial information to you without his articulate authorization," Billy remarked.

"I have to agree with Billy on this one. You'll have to ask Tommy," Kimberly told her.

"Kim just won't say anything because he blew her off," Jason teased.

"That was the spell!" she yelled back at him, taking the towel away and hitting him with it.

"Didn't think you cared anymore."

"I-I don't. B-but… oh, never mind. Kira, you ready to go?" Kimberly said, pushing past Jason and heading towards the car. Ready or not, Kira figured she'd better go, or the disgruntled Pink ranger would leave her there, and she was pretty sure that would lead to problems with Tommy later on. Kira hopped off the counter, said a quick goodbye to Trini, Jason, and Billy, and took off after Kimberly as the woman reached her car.

"I won't say anything to Dr. O or the others," she promised Kimberly as they climbed into the car. Kimberly turned and smiled at her.

"Thanks. It's not a big deal really, we just don't know exactly where we stand with the other, you know."

"I noticed. Dr. O didn't exactly look thrilled this afternoon," Kira responded as they drove back to the hotel. Kimberly nodded, and changed the topic to what it was like being a female ranger, surrounded by so many teenage boys.

* * *

Tommy said his goodbye's to Jason and Billy as quickly as he could when the two men followed him, Zach, and the teens, minus Kira, out to the cars. He knew if he hung around long enough Jason, or Zach, and maybe even Billy, would jump on him about not mentioning running into Kimberly before the meeting that evening. He was sure Jason would try to analyze his every move, while Zach would take it as a sign that they were meant to be together. Billy would stay quiet, but listen to every word, then put it all together and help Trini lure him and Kim back together, and really, he didn't even know if he wanted that. He didn't even know if he wanted to be friends with her. Their relationship was weird, by anyone's standards; it always had been, and Tommy was pretty sure there was never a time in the thirteen years that they'd known one another that they'd ever been friends. He was positive they'd pretty much gone straight past that step in a normal relationship.

Thus, getting away from the guys as fast as he could was the best idea. They had already promised to meet up around ten the next day in the lobby of the hotel, so there was no need to formulate plans. At least it was only Zach staying at the same hotel; he could distract Zach much easier than all the guys.

Unfortunately, he had to make it back to the hotel alive before any type of conversation could happen, and he wasn't sure that was going to happen. The quiet, well behaved natures of the Dino Thunder teens had evaporated the moment they'd set foot back inside the jeep, as the amazement at the evening wore off and all three broke down into endless chatter, which started the moment the doors were closed and the ignition started. Tommy didn't doubt that somehow the engine was connected to the brains of his former students and he'd accidentally turned them back on by turning the key. The small, enclosed space was filled with the exclamations of the three youths, the entire trip back to hotel, as Tommy followed Zach. He envied the other black ranger, who appeared to be listening to some type of pleasant music, as his head was bobbing around as he drove.

"Conner, please turn around; its distracting having you lean around the seat like that," he told the teen in the passenger's side seat.

"Just a sec Dr. O," Conner, replied, not really listening. "I still can't believe Jason's handshake. He's so strong."

"Yeah, but Billy's really got a brain. He said the others couldn't even understand him when they were kids."

"Zach's amazing; I didn't know it was possible to know that much about music."

"And Trini told me about the peace conference. WOW… I wonder if they still have those. I'd love to apply," Ethan went on.

"I wish we could meet the other's they mentioned," Trent added. "You know, the other black, yellow, and red rangers."

"And that girl Kat," Conner put in. "If she's anywhere near as hot as Kimbe-" Tommy swerved when Conner spoke, nearly slamming the jeep into a nearby phone pole, his eyes wide open, his face set in the deepest, angriest look he'd ever worn in his entire life. The car behind them slammed on the horn as they went by, but Tommy ignored it. Conner, Ethan, and Trent sat plastered to the backs of their seats, looks of absolute fear were on their faces. They'd rather be facing the Ivan Ooze guy the older rangers had told them about than their science teacher at that moment. In front of them, Zach's car pulled over, and then next minute Tommy's cell phone went off. He let it ring for a moment before answering.

"What?"

"Tommy? You ok? I saw your jeep swerve," Zach's voice came across the line. He sounded truly worried; not because of what had happened but because of the tone in his friends voice. He'd only heard Tommy sound like that once before, and it was when he was Rita Repulsa's green ranger.

"Yeah, fine."

"You sure?" Zach asked again, still hesitating.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tommy said, calming down a bit. "I'll see you back at the hotel."

"Alright, but I'm waiting for you in the lobby."

"Alright." Tommy replied, hanging up the cell phone, and letting it fall gently back onto his lap as Zach's car returned to the road. He took a deep breath, relaxed his nerves and looked at the teens who he was pretty sure had peed themselves when he swerved. "Are you going to be quiet now?"

The three nodded as one, and Conner turned back around in his seat, planted his feet firmly on the floor, and stared straight ahead. Tommy turned back around and Ethan and Trent looked at one another, before following Conner's example. Tommy put the car back in drive, and pulled back onto the road. They finished the drive in silence, and as soon as Tommy parked the car, the teens bolted out and walked as fast as they could towards the hotel and into the lobby. They each gave a quick good night to Zach and rushed towards the elevator. "Be down here at ten," Tommy called after them, and Trent waved to show they'd heard. Tommy shook his head and sighed, before looking at a very curious Zach, who led the way to his own room on the fourth floor.

The former black ranger let them into the room, and motioned toward one of the two chairs beside the circular table next to the window. The room was typical of Zach; a total mess, with clothes on one side, and his music all over the other. Tommy wondered when he'd had the time to create such a mess if he'd only arrived that morning, and spent the whole day at Jason and Trini's place with Billy, as Zach pulled two beers out of the mini- fridge and tossed one to Tommy, who caught it easily.

"So, what the hell was that about?" Zach asked as he fell into the other chair. Tommy just looked down and tapped the lid on the can. "Tommy, man, what happened?"

"I scared them when the car swerved," he answered. Half truth; he didn't lie, exactly; just neglected to tell his friend why the car had suddenly swerved as if a person had been standing in the street in front of him, and he hadn't wanted to hit it.

"And why exactly was that? You were a racecar driver, for god sakes. I know you know how to drive," Zach told him. Again, Tommy was quiet. Zach sighed and shook his head. "Fine, you don't have to tell me. But you know, I'm sure whatever Conner said, you've been thinking it yourself all night."

"What? How'd you know that Conner said something?" Tommy said defensively; trying not to admit that Zach was right, and he had been thinking about something similar to what popped out of the teens mouth.

"I'm not blind Tommy. Kimberly looked amazing tonight, and while I would never go after Kimberly, Conner, Ethan, and Trent are teenagers, with teenage hormones." Zach told him, as Tommy began pacing back and fourth in the room.

"Still doesn't tell me how you knew it was Conner, and Kimberly." Tommy retorted. Zach shook his head. His friend was being stupid, and it was his job as his friend to tell him so.

"Tommy, let me break it down for you man. While I'm sure you're protective of Kira, and I know you're protective of Trini, they're both taken by two men that could easily beat the crap out of Conner. Add to this the fact that Kimberly's single, and very attractive, and as far as I know, you haven't mentioned to any of your students why you fell in the pool when you saw her, so they're clueless. As to why Conner, Trent has Kira, and wouldn't be looking at anyone else unless he wanted her to kill him. She's yellow; I've no doubt she could make his life a living hell, if she chose to. That's why I constantly wish Jason luck. And Ethan, while he's single, and a teenage boy, he'd either be too shy to say something or too smart. After all, Kimberly's an _older_ woman," Zach told him simply.

Tommy stopped pacing. He hadn't even opened his beer and Zach was done with his. He let a small smile play on his lips as he sat back down beside Zach. "You were suppose to be the easy one to avoid, you know that?"

"We figured you'd believe that. You'd have more luck seeing Jason in a tutu then avoiding any of us. Ok, so now we figure out exactly why you reacted like that. I'm pretty sure those three boys don't want to be on the same planet as you right now, let alone the same hotel."

"I don't know. It's just like a part of me just snapped. The same part that always had me jealous when any other guy even looked at her when we were younger, before she sent that damn letter." Tommy confessed. "But I don't know why. I don't want her back; I don't need her back. I'm perfectly capable of-"

"Scaring your teenagers shitless?" Zach offered.

"No. I'm perfectly capable of living without her. I have for the past ten years. Why all of a sudden do I feel like I did ten years ago?"

"Because you've barely seen her since then. You've never been in close contact with her since then. Face it Tommy, you need her, you want her, even if _you_ don't know it yet." Zach told him. "Come on; its late, you're upset. And we've got a long day ahead of us in the morning. Go get some sleep, I'm sure you'll feel much better in the morning." Zach ushered him to the door. Tommy just shook his head.

"I don't need her," he said again, as Zach bade him goodnight and closed the door. He walked down the hall, still reassuring himself that Zach was wrong. His response was natural for someone who was defensive of their old friends, and was completely repulsed by the idea of Conner thinking his old girlfriend was hot. He rode the elevator two stories up, and walked back down the hall towards his room, slid the key in the door and opened it. The connecting door was cracked slightly so he could hear what was going on in the other room. He swore he heard the guys talking, and went towards the door, prepared to apologize. He opened it only to see Ethan in one bed, Conner in the other, and Trent stretched out in the rollaway, all asleep. He shook his head and closed the door, leaving it open a crack, mentally promising to apologize in the morning. He grabbed his ice bucket and left the room again, going in search of the machine.

* * *

The guys didn't slow down until they were sure it was safe, and that wasn't until they were locked behind the door to their hotel room. All three immediately collapsed onto the bed.

"I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life," Trent said looked at both Ethan and Conner, both who nodded in agreement.

"What the hell did you have to go say that for, Conner? We told you it was a bad idea," Ethan yelled at him. Conner just gave an apologetic shrug.

"Sorry. I forgot about this afternoon."

"Obviously," Trent rolled his eyes, as he walked over to the mirror and began to get ready for bed. He could hear the other two guys doing the same behind him. "But anyway, now I'm curious. There has to be something more between Dr. O and Kimberly than he's telling us."

"I don't know. The ranger history video never said anything about it," Ethan told them.

"But Dr. O made that video, so he wouldn't if he didn't want anyone to know. If he didn't care, he would have said something by now," Conner added, pulling back his blankets and getting into the bed. It was only ten thirty, but he was really tired due to the day's events. "I thought he was going to kill me," he muttered.

"I thought he was going to kill us all because we knew you by association."

"I think he might have if Zach hadn't saved us with that phone call," Trent told them as he got into bed as well, followed by Ethan. "So, what do you think it is?"

"Well, it's obvious, really. She's his sister," Conner remarked. Ethan threw a pillow at him.

"Conner, you're an idiot." Trent told him.

"She's his ex," Ethan said simply. "I over heard Trini say something about a kiss to Billy. And you saw how playful they were during the story about Phaedos. And Dr. O can't stop blushing when she's around him."

"So, what? It ended after high school, and they both regret it?" Conner asked.

"Nah, gotta be worse. It doesn't seem like it was a mutual decision." Trent told him. "One of them broke up with the other, but yeah, they both regret it. Maybe more than regret."

"Who do you think was the one who ended it? Dr. O? Or Kimberly?" Ethan asked him.

"I think it was Kimberly," Conner said.

"This from the guy who thinks she's his sister," Trent rolled his eyes.

"So what, Dr. O broke her heart and now he feels bad about it?" Ethan asked. "Proba- someone's coming. Dr O's back." All three guys fell silent and slipped deeper beneath the blankets, pretending to have fallen asleep. Their science teacher came and went without saying he was there, although Trent heard him say something about apologizing in the morning, and then the door to their room closed again, and the front door of Tommy's hotel room opened and shut once more.

* * *

Kira followed Kimberly to the seventh floor and down the hall to the opposite end of the hotel from where her old room with the guys was located. "Room 712, here we are," Kimberly had said, opening the door and letting them inside. She cleared her suitcase off the unused bed to make room for Kira, and then sat down on her bed, collapsing backwards against the soft pillows. Kira laughed and sat down on the other bed. "Hmm?" Kimberly asked when Kira said something.

"I said thanks for letting me stay here," Kira repeated. "I loved rooming with Trent, but the other guys, not so much."

"You and Trent didn't do anything did you," Kimberly asked, suddenly alarmed. She'd definitely noticed that Kira and Trent were serious, over the course of the evening.

"No way. One, we're not ready for anything like that, and two, there's Conner and Ethan," she told the older woman. Kimberly nodded and smiled.

"Understandable. When Tommy and I-"

Kira smiled. "I understand. No need to explain. You had way more people around when you were my age," Kira said, with a laugh. "I can't get used to the idea of Dr. O dating someone. I mean, he's my science teacher. He's not supposed to have a private life." Kimberly laughed at this.

"Well, what is he supposed to have? I mean you all know he was a Power Ranger as a teenager. Did you think once he became a teacher he'd stopped living?"

"I don't know. I mean I've always known he was a ranger, but I never really thought about it. Did you ever think about your teachers or mentors having private lives when you were a kid?"

"Ewww… no, I don't even want to think about that; although, there wasn't much risk of Zordon ever dating. It's not easy to find a female head in a tube," Kimberly joked. "Come on little yellow ranger, you've got to go get your stuff, and I'm going to go get some ice," she pulled the half asleep Kira to her feet and walked towards the door, putting the stopper in place, as she turned down one end of the hall going back towards the elevator and Kira walked all the way towards the other end, rooms 734 and 736. Once Kira went into one of the rooms, Kimberly turned her attention towards her destination, the floors ice machine.

Finding it only took a minute or so, as she could hear it, and someone using it, from several feet away. Kimberly turned the corner, and smiled as she saw who it was. Tommy was bent over the machine, trying to get the ice to come out in more than two pieces at a time. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. A view of his butt wasn't all that bad.

"Hey Tommy," she said, knowing he hadn't heard her, as he'd been too busy arguing with the machine. He jumped at least four inches off the ground and hit his head on the machine. Kimberly laughed as he rubbed the soar spot and turned around to look at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Sure you didn't," he retorted, taking his ice bucket out of the machine. "Have a good night," he told her, turning to go, not really wanted to be there at the moment.

"Tommy?"

"Hmm?"

"What are we?" she didn't know what it was that made her ask, but she had to. At first she thought he wasn't going to answer. That he was just going to stand there and stare at her as if she'd grown a second head. Then his eyes sort of glazed over, like he wasn't really seeing her, or at least he wasn't the twenty seven year old her. She sighed, wondering what exactly he was thinking during the time that he stared at her. He ran his hand through his spiked hair, and Kimberly honestly wondered what it was that made him cut the hair she'd always loved.

"I don't know," he answered, took the ice bucket, and sped away, without so much as a goodnight.

She watched him go, before putting her bucket into the machine, getting the ice, and walking back to the room. She gave Kira a weak smile, before putting a lid on the ice bucket and changing her clothes and shutting the light. She climbed into her bed, turned her back to Kira, and felt the tears start towards the brims of her eyes. She pushed them back, willing herself not to cry. She was done crying over this. She'd finished crying years ago. She wasn't a heart broken child anymore. She was a grown woman, who had, by her own choice, removed herself from her first love's life. She was the reason they didn't know where they stood with one another, and if she wasn't happy about it, then it was her responsibility to fix it. She'd be having a conversation with Dr. Oliver at some point the next day, or her name wasn't Kimberly Hart.

* * *

So, hope you enjoyed that, because definitely I did. I should have the third chapter up soon, so yeah. Please review if you enjoyed and even if you didn't.  
Fateless Wanderer and her inner child chibi fateless. 


	3. Missing Rangers and Pirates

Lookit! Three chapters! YAY! I'm really really really enjoying writing this. I barely pay attention in my classes anymore. LOL. No, not to the point that I hurt my grades. Just in the classes I can pull an A+ in without trying.

**Oh, and I did want to reply to one of the reviews for the previous chapter: I have read and absolutely love and enjoy _Of Love and Bunnies_ by CrazyGirl47, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a much better reunion fic than mine. However, mine is not based off of hers, though I do understand how one would think so. It is very, very hard not to have similarities as we both believed in the pairings of Trent and Kira, Jason and Trini, and of course Tommy and Kimberly. I am aware that there are other pairings (Kira and Conner, Trini and Billy, Jason and Kat, Tommy and Kat) but I've never been as fond of them. It is also impossible to create major differences in the characters as CrazyGirl47 does a magnificent job of keeping everyone in character. To deviate, I would have to write everyone out of character and thus damage the story. The characters were laid down by Saban, and to make Billy an idiot and Conner the most intelligent man alive, would be very, very wrong.**

**I've several chapters outlined, and I can tell you now, I don't plan on any reminiscing involving actually telling the story in flashback (all reminiscing will actually be told through the mouths of the adult rangers, while polite (or on some occasions, not so polite) banter is traded); nor will any of the rangers make a purposeful public appearance until the actual ceremony (no promises that they might not make stupid mistakes hint); there is a possibility of monsters attacking, but I don't want to go to far into that; Bulk and Skull will actually play a large part in this; Ernie will not make any actual appearances (most probable, a letter. And before anyone says anything: Every true MMPR fan knows that Ernie has ALWAYS KNOWN); Billy does not live on Aquitar for reasons that are as of yet, undisclosed; his current job will actually be something of a surprise (I did mention Washington DC, but everything else is saved for a later chapter); and there will be several major problems among the Dino thunder teens (one that I have hinted at, at least twice now.); I'm possibly considering character death (its not definite, but here's a heads up); the whole story will span at least a two week period (if not stretch beyond); and I DO NOT guarantee a final reunion of Tommy and Kimberly (although he will not chose Kat. No offense to the other pink ranger, but I much rather Tommy be single than with her). So yes, I hope that will put everyone's fears to rest that I have based _Requiem of an Era_ off of _Of Love and Bunnies_. Once again, I would like to recommend that you read it, as I believe it is much better than my own, and she deserves a lot of praise for what she writes. **

Ok, on to chapter 3.

* * *

Jason watched as Kira took off running after Kimberly and shook his head. Something was up with the former pink ranger. He should know, they'd been friends since they were in diapers. He turned to see Trini and Billy staring at him.

"What?"

"We're just as worried," Trini told her husband, leaning up and planting a kiss on his cheek, as Kim's car pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

"Affirmative. I must say I never anticipated observing such anomalous behavior from them. Arguing; yes; but the unnatural, unobtrusive conduct is most distressing."

Jason just nodded and led the way back into the house. He and Trini sat down on the couch, while Billy sat in an easy chair and pulled out a book he'd been reading, but didn't open it.

"So, that went a little different than expected," Trini said with a bit of amusement in her voice. "Other than the whole Tommy and Kimberly thing, it was a very enjoyable evening."

"Did you think it wouldn't be? I know we've been apart for so long, but we're all more like brothers and sisters than friends sometimes," Jason explained. Billy nodded. He definitely agreed. There was more to the relationships the six of them had than could be described in a simple word such as friendship. No matter how you spun it, he knew that they'd even killed to protect one another (although they'd never actually referred to destroying any of the monsters they faced as killing).

They'd shared a common bond while they were all different in their own ways. Billy was the brain, the one who wasn't expected to be the most athletic, but always be able to fix things. Zach was the comedian. Even when the situation looked bleak, he'd be able to keep their spirits up. Trini was the voice of reason. Before anyone could rush into something, she'd make them think it through. She kept them all from fighting, she was the perfect mediator. Kimberly was the heart of the team; the emotion, the drive. Billy knew something died in him and Tommy, as rangers, when she'd taken her leave. Jason was the athletic one. He was the leader who could a cool head even in the worst situations. He kept them together. And Tommy was the motivation, and the love. He was just as athletic and possessed all the qualities of Jason, and yet he brought something else to the team. Maybe it was his own drive to defeat those who had so nearly destroyed him. No matter what though, at the time, it was just what the team had needed.

Over the years, while the qualities had remained, they'd all nurtured other bits of their personalities. Billy wasn't the nerd he'd been. Jason wasn't as stoic. Zach was more serious. Trini thought with her heart more. Kimberly was less likely to act on her emotions. And Tommy was darker, more sarcastic.

Looking from Jason to Trini he'd realized something. While they'd grown up, they'd grown apart. They were the same six people, but the ties that had held them together all those years ago were frayed. Some we stronger than others, and as it seemed, some were non existent all together. Why? Why had they allowed themselves to drift apart? And what could they do to reform those bonds?

"You mean we were."

"What do you mean, Billy?"

"I mean its over; tonight just proved it. Kimberly and Tommy can't even look at one another. None of us would ever have known you two got married if Angel Grove wasn't having a Power Rangers commemoration; and you might not even have joined in nuptial bonds if fortune hadn't transpired and you unintentionally met one another again. Face it. We're not who we used to be. Not who those kids believe we are."

"Billy?" Trini asked him softly, after the former blue ranger finished his rant. She'd never seen him like this.

"I want us to be who they think we are. I want us to be the Power Rangers again."

"Billy, man. We can't; there's no power left."

"I don't mean the power, Jason. I mean the team. I want us to be more than friends again. We should never have stopped being partners, teammates, siblings. We should be the group those teenagers regarded as heros," he replied, his eyes shining with unshed tears. He'd long since left his chair, the book laying unceremoniously on the floor at its base. He was pacing back and fourth, trying to get his frustration at the evening out.

"Billy's right," Jason said simply, looking at Trini who nodded. "We should be, but we aren't. But I think we can be again."

"There's only one thing stopping us," Trini agreed.

"It's worth a shot. And if it isn't what's stopping us, than the six of us will have to figure out what it is.," Billy added.

"The its settled, we reform the team and the bonds that once held all of us together," Jason said, a determined look in his eye as the phone rang. He frowned, looking at his watch to see what time it was, and then answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey man, its Zach. So, how do we fix this?"

* * *

Tommy stood in the lobby of the hotel the next morning dressed in a pair of green shorts and a white t-shirt, talking to Zach about the other man's career in the record business. The former black ranger was wearing a pair of jean shorts, a grey tank top, and a very light black vest over it. The weather had predicted close to ninety two degrees that day, and black was not the easiest color to wear in the heat. He'd hated having to fight on days when the sun was out. He'd always felt more dehydrated than the others. He'd often wondered about asking if he could be the brown, purple, or orange ranger just to escape the heat.

Trent, Conner, and Ethan sat on the other side of the lobby, quietly talking and munching on donuts from the continental breakfast. While their teacher had come into the room that morning (nearly scaring the pants off poor Conner) and apologized, none of them wanted to be near him until they were certain he wasn't looking to murder them. Conner'd even resolved to sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life, in case Tommy ever remembered the day he'd called Kimberly hot and decided that the former red ranger didn't really need his kidneys.

Billy, Trini, and Jason had arrived while the five were eating breakfast. The former yellow ranger had latched herself onto Tommy and Zach, even though they both insisted they weren't going to go away again. Well, they'd eventually have to go back to their homes (Tommy to Reefside and Zach to LA) but that wasn't for two weeks and even then, they'd be sure to visit. Jason and Billy just watched, laughing. Jason because it was funny, and Billy because he'd had to go through it since he'd gotten there on Wednesday, and was the sole focus of her attention (when not with Jason) until the previous day. He definitely felt like it was the other's turn to deal with her.  
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kimberly said as she and Kira finally arrived, both wearing their respective colors, as all the other rangers were. Tommy hadn't thought it possible, but Kimberly seemed to be more stunning each time he saw her, and it was beginning to drive him crazy. At most he wanted to be her friend. At the least, he wanted to lock her in one of the old little dumpsters Rita had crawled out of and send her flying off into outer space. She could make a wonderful second wife for lord Zedd, if he still wanted her. Tommy most certainly didn't want to be standing there thinking that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Unfortunately, the idiotic half of his brain was controlling his emotions. He had an odd feeling that that part of him was related to Conner.

"That's fine Kimmie," Jason told her, hugging her much as an older brother would as Kira went to her boyfriend and her friends. "We just got here as well," he lied, grinning. Kimberly saw through the lie and hit him lightly.

"I can't understand why you married him," Kimberly told Trini as they walked in front of their friends, gathering the teenagers who were lost in conversation once again as they all headed out to the hotel parking lot where Jason's car rested beside Zach and Tommy's. Kimberly's was on the other side of the hotel, and Billy'd left his at Jason and Trini's place.

"Well, you don't know what he's like in bed," Trini retorted and Jason blushed, while Billy, Zach, and Tommy looked as if they were going to be sick. Kimberly and Trini burst out laughing, while Jason sent his friends (Billy, Tommy, and Zach) looks that would kill, promising to make the group literally black and blue if they ever mentioned this to anyone.

"So, where are we going," Tommy asked as the teens crowed around his jeep, although Conner remained as far away from him as he could. Tommy felt bad, but he had to admit, the distance they were giving him was nice.

"We were thinking it would be a pleasant experience to go to Angel Grove park for the day," Billy said, and Trini and Jason nodded. Tommy, Zach, and Kimberly agreed. Out of every spot at in Angel Grove, the part was the place where they had the most memories; where they'd fought the most monsters, and in Kimberly and Tommy's case, where'd they'd gone with one another.

"Sounds like a plan then. We'll take mine and Jason's cars because they hold the most?" he asked looking at his friend.

"That works," Jason agreed, as Trini stole the car keys from him and pulled herself into the drivers seat, making the bumper sticker on the back even funnier than it'd been when they'd first seen it.

"I'm riding with Jason!" Conner called, rushing towards the SUV, Ethan behind him.

"Me too!" Jason gave Tommy a look as Zach broke down laughing. Tommy just shook his head and shrugged, and Jason put it off to hero worship which he wasn't all that against, the more he thought about it. Granted, Conner was a very special (as in the short bus kind of way) red ranger.

"Ok then, Zach you can ride with us, and Billy and Kim can ride with Tommy," Trini called from the open window of SUV. Tommy and Kimberly immediately looked at one another and then back at Trini who had turned her attention to the two teens in the backseat. Zach, Billy, and Jason were pretending that nothing strange was going on, which made Tommy long for his dragonzord. Maybe he could drown himself with it. Jason waved a quick goodbye, and he and Zach climbed into the two remaining seats of the SUV, leaving Billy and Kimberly to follow Kira and Trent to the Jeep. Kimberly nearly sprinted ahead of the former blue ranger to guarantee that he would be riding shot gun and not her.

She wasn't oblivious. She knew her friends were trying to get her and Tommy back together, and while it was sweet of them, it was unnecessary and unwanted. She just wanted to be friends with him; that was all. She didn't want to kiss him, hold him, or even think about him that way, although she had to admit she wasn't disgusted at seeing his butt in her face last night. Maybe a bit embarrassed though.

Trent kept all his attention on Kira, occasionally listening to something the adults said, but never once did he let his eyes fall on Kimberly for more than a second, as he was sure Tommy kept glancing back at her in the rear view mirror. Granted, Tommt was actually making sure that Trent and Kira didn't get too friendly in the back seat of his car while they were on vacation. He wasn't listening to the teens conversation about what college would be like, but rather enjoying listening to Billy talk to Kimberly about her fashion career, until they turned down a familiar rode, and the former blue ranger began pointing out old buildings on the street. This was something Tommy hadn't officially been part of, but it still meant something anyway.

"That old house there, the one with the garage door nearly off the hinges. That was my place where I was a kid," Billy told Kira and Trent. "And that one," he pointed at a house three doors down as Tommy slowed down. It had a picket fence and there were two kids playing on the stoop. "That was Trini's." Diagonal from that stood a one story house with a car port instead of a garage. The older rangers pointed it out as being Zach's childhood home. The ranch with the big back yard, gravel drive way, the wire fence, and the big oak tree that looked like someone had tried to beat the crap out of it proved to be Jason's old home. Kimberly got excited as they passed the two story Victorian house with the two car garage, and the pool. No one needed to say it was hers. She even made Tommy stop the car for a moment or two so she could look at it. He happily obliged, but had to move on when the car behind them got impatient and repeated tapped their horn. They finished the drive to the park, pointing out places along the street where one of Billy's early experiments had exploded, or where Jason had chased off a bully that was picking on Kimberly (and the few times when Kimberly had chased off a bully that was picking on everyone else). Tommy even pointed out the alley way he'd been in when he scared Bulk and Skull during his short lived period as the evil Green ranger.

They finally pulled into the large parking lot of the Angel Grove park, beside Jason's car, to find the other five scattered around a bit. Jason and Zach leaned against the back fender, while Trini was fishing something out of the trunk (going over the seat since Zach and Jason were blocking the normal entrance to the trunk). Conner and Ethan were off to the side, still discussing the events of the previous night, although both were looking at the older rangers with the same looks of awe as they had the night before. All four of the teens were much more talk-a-tive than they'd been when they first met their predecesors and Tommy wondered if he could have Haley make something that put them into an awe induced stupor anytime he needed peace and quiet.

"What took you so long?" Zach asked, when they'd all reformed their two groups: Tommy and the other adults, and then the teenagers. Trini pushed a beach bag into Jason's arms and tossed another at Zach before handing a large picnic basket to Tommy, mentioning not trusting Jason or Zach to stay out of it, although she did give Tommy a warning.

"Billy and Kimberly decided to give Trent and Kira a verbal tour of the old neighborhood."

"You'd be happy to know that the old oak tree in Jason's back yard is still standing, although it did seem more battered than I remembered," Kimberly informed the other three, who laughed.

"Trini, what did you pack in here? Bricks?" Jason complained hefting his bag higher onto his shoulder. Trini laughed and playfully told him she'd brought their entire stash of gym equipment. Billy suddenly came up behind him and grabbed the bag, which Jason immediately released, due to the surprise of not expecting the former blue ranger to do that. He placed it on his own shoulder with ease and turned to look at Jason, his eyebrows raised. Jason just blinked and stared at him in shock.

"What did they do to him on Aquitar?" he murmured to Zach.

"I don't know man, but he scares me," Zach replied. Tommy just nodded as the girls burst out laughing, along with the four teenagers, as they walked toward the park, Billy leading.

"We never mention this," Tommy said to the other two beside him.

"Never," Jason reaffirmed.

"We're so screwed," Zach pointed out as his friends nodded and the three of them raced to catch up to the group.  
Once they'd caught up, and set the bags down in the area they had usually frequented as kids, Trini fished through Zach's bag, and handed a blanket to Kira.

"Spread that beneath the tree, will you, Kira?"

"Sure Trini," Kira replied, as Trini handed four weights from Billy's bag to the teen guys, telling them to place them on the corners of the blanket she'd given to Kira. Ethan saluted her and ran off to do as he was told, along with Conner and Trent.

"You've really got them wrapped around your fingers," Tommy told the others, as he set the picnic basket down on the blanket. "Just wait until the novelty of knowing the original rangers wears off," he said, lowering his voice so no one would hear. Jason was digging around in one of the bags, looking for something, but he laughed.

"Tommy, you must have done something to make the novelty wear off on Conner, because the way that boy acts, you'd think we were a hundred feet tall," he said finally pulling a Frisbee out of bag, and grinning.

"He has a very limited attention span. They all do," Tommy told them, noticing how all the guys but Conner weren't flinching every time he got near them anymore. Granted, they hadn't totally relaxed, and Kira was beginning to wonder if her science teacher had developed some type of disease on the way back from the hotel that night that caused the guys to avoid him.

"Whatever you say; Anyone up for a game?" Jason asked. Zach, Tommy, Trent, and Conner immediately agreed to play. Conner was even bold enough to snatch the bright red disk from Jason's hand as he ran by and the guys formed some type of pentagon formation, and began passing the Frisbee back and forth.

Kimberly and Trini sat down beside Kira who was attempting to follow Ethan and Billy's conversation about ranger technology. It was hard for two reasons. One, both guys were keeping their voices extremely low so that you actually had to be listening to hear them, and two, they weren't speaking human, as far as Kira was concerned. It wasn't that she was stupid, because she was far from it. All of them were. It was just that, put Ethan in a room with another computer genius and he forgot to use terms normal people did.

"Don't even bother trying Kira, you'll never keep up," Trini told the younger girl as she sat down, kicking her flip flops off in front of her and gazing at the guys.

"What? And you two can?"

"She can when she wants to. I don't even bother. I understand Billy when I need to, as do Tommy, Jason, and Zach. Otherwise, Billy generally speaks normally when he's talking to one of us. He's just really excited to have someone to talk to besides Trini who can understand every word he says without really trying," Kimberly explained, frowning when she noticed the stupid grin on Trini's face. "Uh, Trini? You there?"

"What? Oh yeah, sorry, Jason took his shirt off," Trini responded and Kira and Kimberly laughed.

"You are so hopeless," Kimberly told her, noticing that all of the guys had done away with their shirts. It was just too hot. She had to admit, Tommy looked good. She'd been too surprised to really noticed yesterday at the pool, but now, well, you couldn't help but notice five sweaty guys running around with their tops off; although, she didn't really look at Conner or Trent. That was just gross.

"I still prefer Trent," Kira put in. "Conner's built, but Trent's got more up here," she said, tapping her head as she watched her teammates, keeping her eyes off of Tommy at all times. Checking out her science teacher was a big no no, not to mention incredibly creepy.

"And now is when we follow Kimberly's unconscious stare toward our white ranger," Billy said, coming up behind them.

"WHAT!" Both Kira and Kimberly said. Trini and Billy were laughing so hard they didn't notice the look Ethan sent Kira, who immediately blushed, realizing he hadn't been referring to Trent, but to Tommy, who had seeming done away with ever being the black ranger, as far as anyone was concerned.

"Oh Kimmie, you know it's true," Trini told her friend, hugging her around the shoulder. Kira looked at Ethan, and the two immediately went to join the Frisbee game, turning the pentagon into a heptagon as Billy took Kira's seat beside his two friends.

"It is not. I was looking at them all," Kimberly said defensively, before noticing the wide eyed stares the two of them were giving her. "I'm not a pedophile, so stop that," she snapped at them. "Tommy, Jason, and Zach have always been well built," she added.

"Ahh, notice how she said Tommy's name first," Trini remarked to Billy, ignoring the girl between them.

"Yes, and she put poor Zachary last. He'll be so heart broken," Billy retorted, with a laugh. Kimberly groaned and dropped her head into her knees as her two so called best friends continued to go on around her.

"She did remember to put Jason in front of him, which is a plus, although he should have been first."

"Guys, stop this please," Kimberly groaned.

"Not until you admit you were checking Tommy out," Trini told her. "Otherwise, we can just sit here and analyze all of your emotions."

"Affirmative Kimberly," Billy said shortly. "But I'll let you interrogate her, Trini. I've got a desire to play a game of Frisbee." He pulled off his own t-shirt and ran off to join the other's leaving Kimberly and Trini alone on the blanket.

"Oh my god," Tini muttered, staring in the direction of the game. Kimberly still head her head in her knees.

"What? Lord Zedd's attacking?" Kimberly said sarcastically.

"No, look." Kimberly looked up and followed the direction of her friends gaze, her eyes going wide.

"Is that Billy?" Kimberly asked. He was much more built than she'd ever remembered, even more so than Tommy and Jason, and Jason still taught karate, and Tommy'd been working with the most recent power rangers. Judging from the guys reactions, they noticed the change in the blue ranger as well. They stared at him, looked at the girls for a moment, who shrugged, and then back at Billy, who seemed to be enjoying their surprise.

"Aquitar was good to him."

"Can we go to Aquitar, Tini?"

"If only I wasn't married."

"Hey! I heard that! I bet he sucks in bed!" Jason yelled back at her. This time, even Kimberly and the teens turned green, as Trini collapsed into a fit of laughter.

"Jason, really, the whole world doesn't need to know about what you and Trini have been doing in private."

"And by the whole world, Tommy means the rest of us," Zach clarified.

"I have to agree. Please keep your clandestine activities with Trini, confidential."

"How about we just play a game of Frisbee," Conner suggested, tossing the disk towards Zach who caught it easily and passed it towards Trent without hesitating. The game resumed, Jason's previous comment completely forgotten.

The game actually went on for an hour or so before any of the guys actually showed signs of fatigue. Kimberly had managed to get Trini's mind off their previous conversation by asking her best friend more about the other two loves of her life. Trini dove immediately into the story of how she and Jason had met up while both happened to be shopping for a dog. Trini was just in the stages of planning to move back to Angel Grove and was feeling rather lonely, while Jason had been looking for a guard for the dojo he'd opened, which was attached to the house he'd bought. He'd wasted no time in offering Trini one of the spare bed rooms in the house, which she'd immediately accepted. The only problem was, they'd both fallen in love with two separate boxers, so they'd adopted them both, and it was Trini who'd come up with the names while looking at the pictures of the old group Jason had set up throughout the house.

"And we decided on yellow for Zordon because he seemed smarted than Alpha," Trini told Kim as Kira and Ethan returned to the blanket, looking like, well, crap. Ethan collapsed on his back, staring up at the sky as Kira just sat and put her head in her knees.

"You two ok?"

"Playing with Dr. O is like a full body work out," Ethan responded.

"I'll take that as a no," Kimberly said laughing, and Conner and Trent dropped out of the game as well, although they both looked much better off than their teammates. Trent dropped down behind Kira and began to massage the girl's sore muscles. Kira kissed him lightly, her eyes filled with gratitude. Conner placed himself as far away from Kimberly as he could. She gave him a questioning look, but shrugged and put it off to the one too many blows to the head that Tommy had mentioned earlier. Trini mentioned a cooler that they'd left in the car since it was parked in the shade, and Conner immediately volunteered to go get it. Ethan went along to make sure he didn't drink everything in it before they got back to the picnic sight. By the time they'd returned, Billy and Zach were sitting with Trini and Kimberly, watching Tommy and Jason toss the Frisbee back and fourth, hard. Kira and Trent were staring as well.

"What the hell are they doing?" Conner asked, putting the cooler beside Billy who opened it and passed out drinks.

"We think they've escalated the game to war," Zach told him. "Not exactly sure who's winning though."

"I'm not surprised. They're best friends, but they've been trying to outdo the other for years. It's all they really know how to do," Trini remarked, to all of them. Kimberly, Billy, and Zach nodded agreement.

"You'd think they'd have outgrown these adolescent endeavors to be triumphant over one another," Billy said, opening a bottle of water.

"Not those two. Tommy and Jason have to much fun trying to out do one another," Kimberly told him. "Come on guys, or we're eating without you."

That managed to get their attention. Jason caught the Frisbee that Tommy'd thrown at him, but didn't return it. Instead they heard him mumble something about it being a tie on the account of he was sure Zach would eat all the food. They shook hands, much as if they'd been in a match against one another and joined the rest of the group on the blanket where Trini was passing out food.

"All home made?" Zach asked, looking at the potato salad. Trini nodded as Jason wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"I love my wife," he told her, kissing her. Tommy had accidentally seated himself beside Kimberly, and Jason was grinning at his friend. Tommy noticed and frowned, realizing where he was sitting when Kimberly passed him the plates. They both blushed, and Tommy sent a glare back at Jason who just shrugged.

"And I'd love my husband more if he wasn't dripping sweat all over me," Trini replied, shrugging him off her.

"You mean if he looked like Billy," Zach said, causing everyone but Billy, Trini, and Jason to laugh. Jason looked like he was going to kill Zach, while the other two looked very embarrassed.

"Well, its not exactly fair. Billy has an earthlings body, but he got to live on a planet where lifting weights was probably nothing," Tommy told them.

"Yeah, he had an unfair advantage," Jason agreed, his look going from murderous to amused. Zach sent Tommy a silent thank-you and Tommy just smiled. His friends would always be the same; quick to anger, but even quicker to calm down. They all had good hearts, and he was glad that was the one thing that hadn't changed.

"Speaking of unfair advantages, remember Halloween when Zedd tried to take out Tommy?" Kimberly said, crossing her legs, as the teens moved in closer to the circle.

"Oh! Is it story time?" Ethan joked, causing all the older rangers to laugh.

"Sure, why not," was Tommy reply.

"Ok, so this was right before Jason, Zach, and Trini left for the peace conference. Actually it was right before they got accepted to it."

"Yeah, it was one of our last battles," Zach remembered. "Luckily, it was short lived. It was Halloween after all. It left plenty of time for candy."

"You're joking right?"

"Actually, no. After the fight, he dragged Trini and I trick or treating with him for a few hours. People stared," Jason said shuddering.

"So that's where you guys disappeared to," Kimberly laughed, remembering only meeting up with Tommy and Billy after they'd finished showing Lord Zedd that they weren't so easily beaten, again. It seemed that the guy, alien, thing, whatever it was, would have learned after having his idiotic creations destroyed countless times that he'd have to try a heck of a lot harder to beat them. Granted, they, all except Billy, weren't exactly the most observant teenagers in the world.

"So what happened?" Conner begged, biting into a sandwich at about the same time. The other teens nodded agreement. It was fine that the adults were reminiscing, but could they at least tell the story so that they could share in the humor of the situation.

"Alright, alright. Keep your shorts on," Zach told them.

"Ok, so Billy and I had organized a community service project between the high school and local children. The teenagers would take groups of kids trick-o-treating so that the adults didn't have to worry, and the kids would have fun going in groups," Kimberly explained. "I dressed as a clown, Billy was a mad scientist, and Tommy…"

"Please don't say it," Tommy groaned, hiding his face.

"Tommy was a pirate," Kimberly finished, laughing a bit. The teenagers nearly fell over laughing at their science teacher dressed up for Halloween. "He fit the part with his long hair and all," she added, causing everyone but Tommy to laugh. He just gave her a mock glare, and sighed.

"My office hasn't been cleaned in a while," he stated simply. Jason, Zach, Billy, Trini, and Kim stopped laughing, but only to shot him looks that screamed 'what in the name of Eltar are you talking about'. The teens on the other hand, fell completely silent. He had to love that power. "You were saying, Kimberly?" He said, leaning back on his hands. She looked back and fourth from the kids to Tommy, and then shrugged, and settled back into the story.

"Well, Trini, Zach, and Jason were busy helping out at the pre-school."

"Actually we'd gotten stuck there, thanks to someone," Trini remarked.

"I can't help it that that kid peed on my leg," Jason said defensively, causing the others to laugh at him this time. "Yeah yeah. Keep laughing. Just wait until its your turn. But yeah, by the time I'd finished cleaning up, the other volunteers had left, and we couldn't leave the pre-schoolers alone."

"So after Bulk and Skull, showed up, made the customary buffoons out of themselves, and departed, Kimberly and I sent Tommy off with a collection of children, while we waited for declaration from Trini and the others on their current positions. Finally, we decided to take the other children ourselves, and our end of the activities went smoothly."

"Mine, on the other hand, didn't. Though really, now that I think about it, I'm not surprised. Why not attack the only lone ranger," Tommy said, taking the story over. "The kids, who were dressed in very strange power ranger costumes, turned out to be putties, and Goldar appeared."

"Gol-" Trent began but Jason immediately cut him off.

"Large, gold armored, flying monkey man. Not all that scary, now that I think about it."

"Was he really a man?" Kimberly asked.

"Do you care?" Trini added.

"Ok, back on topic because Kimberly and Trini are starting to scare me," Zach told Tommy who nodded agreement.

"Come on, you're wondering too."

"No, not really," Zach retorted, shuddering, and looking at Jason. "Dude, control your wife."

"Um Zach, that's Trini. She controls me," Jason replied, and Trini patted him on the head from her seat between his legs. She'd already placed herself perfectly against his chest so she could see both him and the rest of the group. Kira was sitting similarly with Trent, although not as close, as Tommy would have probably pulled them apart. If he wasn't so distracted by his friends, he'd probably have already stopped them from so much as holding hands. According to Tommy, Angel Grove held much more opportunity for teens to do _bad_ things than Reefside, if the only chaperon happened to be a slightly forgetful, very disorganized paleontologist, science teacher, ex-power ranger. Kira was pretty sure that there were only a hand full of those around.

"I have a good husband. But yes, back to the story."

"Well, I kicked ass," Tommy said, boosting.

"Or so he says," Jason threw in. "None of us were there." Tommy threw a cheeto at him and rolled his eyes.

"And the next thing I knew, Goldar teleported me to one of Lord Zedd's dark dimensions. This one was different though. Well, the next thing I know, some of the monsters we'd already beaten and destroyed appeared out of no where, including one very stupid sounding pumpkin headed, thing. I swear, his rhymes were worse than Zach's."

"Hey," Zach said. It was his turn to throw a cheeto at Tommy, but he chose to punch him instead as it worked better at close range. Tommy just ignored him, although he was sure his shoulder would be bruised later, not that he'd admit it.

"I went to morph, but the creatures had my morpher."

"Dr. O? If you were kicking ass, how'd the monsters get your morpher?" Ethan asked. Tommy just looked him.

"No glaring at the children, Dr. O," Kimberly told him. "We're not exactly sure, Ethan. But we're pretty sure he _wasn't_ kicking ass. Is that the terminology he used, Billy."

"Affirmative Kimberly," Billy said, smiling. "I believe he mentioned it some times for several days afterwards."

"Billy and I got back to the youth center, but there was no Tommy, and no sign of the others," Kimberly resumed. Jason muttered something about stupid kids with no bladder control. "But all the kids were accounted for. So, suspecting something was off, we went to the command center. Zordon located Tommy, and explained that the others were held up with the little ones, so Billy and I teleported to Tommy's location. And Billy got his morpher back."

"I could have gotten it myself."

"Yes, you could have; but by then, all of Angel Grove could have been buried in several feet of debris," Trini told him, patting him on the cheek. "Face it, you needed us."

"I never said I didn't. Of course I needed you," he replied, his eyes falling on Kimberly. "All of you. For more reasons than one."

"Anyway, Alpha suddenly teleported to the preschool to watch the children; I nearly fainted when I thought he was going to expose us. Zordon contacted us on our communicators and explained that the others were in trouble and Alpha could watch the children since it was Halloween and people would think it was a very short man in a costume," Trini explained.

"Long story short," Jason picked up, "Together the six of us were always stronger than we were individually, and _we_ all kicked ass. Only one monster remained. The pumpkin head whose raps were worse than Zach's." Zach just glared at his former leader, soon to be former friend if he made one more comment about his attempts at rap as a kid.

"And of course, Lord Zedd can never play nice so the monster grew, and we called in the zords."

"Not the ninjetti ones?" Kira asked. Kimberly shook her head.

"No, we got those later. These were our second zords: the thunder zords. Red dragon for Jason, Griffin for Trini, Unicorn for Billy, Firebird for myself, Lion for Zach, and Tigerzord for Tommy. Those were amazing zords, although I always missed my pterodactyl."

"You had pterodactyl?" Kira asked, surprised. Kimberly nodded. "So did I," she laughed. Kimberly smiled.

"Well, now I know why I like you so much," the older woman told her.

"Ok, so cutting the girl talk," Conner said and got slapped by both Kira and Kimberly, but continued anyway. "Can we hear the rest of the story."

"There isn't much to tell. The guys formed the Thunder Megazord, and we destroyed the monster, saving the world from yet one more music mutilator," Tommy informed them. "Jason, Trini, and Zach went back to the preschool."

"Unfortunately."

"Jason!"

"What? Alpha would have been fine if we'd stayed away a few more minutes... or hours." Tommy shook his head.

"And Billy, Kim, and I returned to the youth center, only to find a very sick Bulk and Skull coming in. They'd eaten to much candy, but otherwise, I've got no idea what they did."

"I do. I heard Ernie talking to one of the mothers," Kimberly told them. "Apparently they were harassing any child wearing a power ranger costume."

"They were still trying to unmask us?" Jason asked her.

"Yep. And in their minds we'd developed the power to shrink."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about them unmasking you at the ceremony if they thought you had the ability to shrink," Trent told them.

"Oh, we've shrank before, not to mention grown, but not of our own free will," Kimberly told them.

"Grown?" Kira asked.

"Tommy grew to the size of a zord once. Granted, he was the monster." Trini told them. The teens stared at him, and Conner put more distance between them.

"How about another game of Frisbee?"

"Maybe later," Ethan replied, "I'm thinking nap time. I'm completely beat."

"Me too," Kira told him. Trent muttered something about traitors, and went to join Conner. The older rangers all declined in favor of different activities. Kimberly decided that Kira and Ethan had the right idea and chose to close her eyes for a while. Trini and Jason went on a walk, leaving Billy, Zach, and Tommy to watch the two younger rangers toss the Frisbee back and forth.

"Remind you of anyone?" Billy asked suddenly. Tommy frowned and looked at him. "Red and white," he explained. "They remind me of you and Jason."

"Surely you're not comparing Conner to Jason?" Zach asked.

"No, Billy's right. Conner's not a bright, and doesn't have nearly the same interests as Jason, but his hearts in the exact same place. He's extremely dedicated to his soccer, and he always kept his head in battle." Tommy told them.

"And Trent. Anything like the amazing Tommy Oliver?"

"Ha. Wish I was more like him," Tommy answered Billy.

"Meaning?"

"Well, we did start off similar. He's adopted, and he was evil to start. Not green though. Always white."

"Evil? Adopted? Well, are you sure he's not your clone?"

"Zach, bio-engineering on earth has yet to reach the level at which we can create precise replicas of human deoxyribonucleic acid. And then there's the theory of nature versus nurture," Billy explained.

"I wasn't being literal, Billy," Zach said, lightly punching the blue ranger's arm.

"Oh. But how does this relate to you wanting to be more like him?" Billy asked Tommy.

"Well, he's happy isn't he? He won. He got his girl," Tommy said, standing up, shoving his hands in his pocket, and walking off, in a completely different direction that Trini and Jason had gone, leaving Billy and Zach to think about what he'd said.

He himself had to think about what he'd said. He knew he felt it. He'd always envied Trent for keeping Kira. He'd hoped that because Trent was so similar to himself, his relationship with a fellow ranger wouldn't end as his had, and when their power was gone, he was relieved to see that the kids had made it, and were planning on attending the same college in the fall. But then there was his envy, and with Kimberly around, it was even stronger. He sort of thought that maybe it was the envy, amplified by being in such close proximity to her, that was making his mind so crazy the past day and a half, but he knew better than that. He knew he still had feelings for her, even though he didn't want to. He didn't want to love her. Maybe friends, maybe that. They could be friends. They hadn't tried that relationship yet. But then why had he told Billy and Zach that he wished he was Trent because Trent got the girl. Perhaps that traitorous part of him was stronger than he admitted. Perhaps he secretly wanted his friends to do what he didn't have the power to do: to get him and Kimberly back together. Because, as he'd said, he'd always needed them, for more reasons than one.

* * *

It's a bit shorter than all the others, but I needed to end somewhere. Tommy's more confused than ever. And no, Kimberly hasn't given up on the promise she made herself, she's just yet to get him alone. The next chapter: Conner and Trent mistake one another for monsters.

Fateless Wanderer


	4. Punching Bags and Dinosaur Chew Toys

Chapter 4! YAY! Easter weekend has been very kind in allowing me to get these written. Not posted, but written. No long intro today, just a chapter for you all. Oh, and a very big thanks for all the reviews.

* * *

Billy looked at Zach, surprise on his face. "Did he just say what I think he said?" Zach looked over his shoulder at the disappearing figure of their friend, and then back at Billy and nodded.

"He did."

"Did he hit his head in that game? I'm pretty sure he knows we're plotting against him, so why would he give us something like that. It'd be too simple." Billy said, noting that Tommy was out of seeing distance and turned back to stare at the game Trent and Conner were playing. He was sure it had been a game of Frisbee when it had started. Now, Trent was on the ground and Conner was prying the discus from his hands, then doing a strange victory dance. Trent leapt up and tackled him to the ground, stealing the plastic disk back and took off running, Conner right behind him. Billy wasn't exactly sure what to make of it.

"Well, it takes two to tango." Zach responded.

"You think Kimberly knows?" Billy asked, looking at his sleeping friend for a moment and then back to the game the boys were playing.

"If Tommy knows, it's a sure bet that Kimberly does. Maybe he thinks he can't stop us," Zach began.

"Because he can't," Billy affirmed.

"But if anyone could, its Kimberly. Especially if we make to bold a move. I don't want to be on the wrong end of her anger," Zach reminded his friend. Billy just shuddered, and sort of felt bad for any of the monsters that had been unlucky enough to go up against Kimberly when she was angry, which generally was the case. Who wouldn't be angry if they'd had to put their lives on hold just to knock some demented alien creation into star dust.

"We may need to re-think this whole plan thing. We can push, but I think we should back off a bit," Billy said as they heard footsteps behind them. He looked up as Trini and Zach joined them, careful not to wake the three sleeping rangers. Ethan had begun to snore.

"I agree," Trini said, as she plopped down beside them, obviously having heard Billy's last statement. "This should be something they do on their own, with just a bit of help from us."

"So we can still tell them when they're being stupid?" Jason asked, pouting.

"Yes honey, you can still tell Tommy when he's being an idiot," Trini reassured him. "What are Conner and Trent doing?" The teens had abandoned the Frisbee and were now rolling around on the ground. Currently Trent was on the bottom and Conner on top of him, one hand holding the kid in white down while he raised his other hand in a fist. Jason and Zach immediately jumped to their feet, realizing it wasn't fun and games anymore and ran toward the boys, Trini and Billy right behind them, as they heard the sound of Conner's fist striking Trent's face, as the boys rolled around. Both got several blows in on the other before Zach and Jason pulled them apart. Trent had a black eye and a split lip. Conner's nose was bleeding, and his cheek sported a black and blue.

"What the hell is going on?" Jason yelled, clutching a squirming Conner's arms behind the youth's back as he struggled to get at Trent. Trent was in pretty much the same position in Zach's clutches. Neither youth answered, though they did calm down a bit. When Zach was sure Trent was no longer going to attack the former red ranger, he released him. Trent glared at Conner, and whipped his lip on his arm, but otherwise didn't move. Jason refused to let go of the other head strong youth. "Are you going to answer me, or do I have to go find Tommy, as you two seem to be particularly scared of him today," Jason threatened.

"He started it," Conner murmured.

"Well, we're all two year olds today. What exactly did he start?" Zach asked. Again, silence. "We're getting no where with these two."

"You're teammates, friends. What the heck could be so bad that you'd start beating on one another?" Trini asked both boys, who refused to meet her eyes. Jason had released Conner a bit, but still kept his hand on his shoulder in case he got another surge of anger and decided Trent was a punching bag. He didn't doubt that Conner was stronger than Trent, without ranger powers. Conner murmured something that no one could quite hear. "Come again?" Trini coaxed.

"He said I was an unfit leader, alright," Conner growled angrily, cause everyone to jump back a bit.

"You're kidding? That's what this is about?" Zach asked. Conner just glared at him.

"If Tommy'd punched me for every time I didn't think he was a great leader, or vice versa, I don't think the two of us would be alive today," Jason told them, wondering what the hell was going on, exactly.

"Just because you're unhappy with something, doesn't mean you go around beating up your friends," Billy told them. Neither boy answered. The silence was getting rather annoying.

"What would Tommy think?" Trini asked them.

"That it's a shame I didn't pound Conner's face into the ground," Trent hissed, and Zach grabbed him again.

"Listen! This is your teammate, your brother, your friend, whether you like it or not. And you will not stand here and degrade one another, do you understand me?" He didn't realize that he was beginning to cut off the circulation in Trent's arm.

"You're hurting me," the youth replied quietly.

"Good," Billy told him, then shook his head and signaled for Zach to relax a bit. The former black ranger wasn't exactly happy about it, but he complied.

"Are you two done being stupid?" Jason asked them both, though he could see that they were both still fuming. Granted, he didn't think they would be jumping on one another again. "Or do you need to be escorted to the restrooms to clean up?" They glared at one another, but shook their heads.

"Good," Jason retorted, fully releasing Conner as Zach did the same with Trent. "Go, clean up, and be back in fifteen minutes, or I'm going to come in after you, and if you think Tommy is scary when he's upset, you'll be sorry I didn't tell him. Understood?"

"Yes sir," both teens murmured as they turned and walked in the direction Trini pointed out for them. The older rangers shook their heads.

"They didn't tell us everything," Billy remarked.

"You think?" Zach said sarcastically. "We were never like that, were we?"

"Don't think so," Trini asked. "Well, unless you count Tommy and Jason when Tommy first joined the team. It was pretty rough there for a while."

"I don't want to think about it. Let me know when their fifteen minutes is up, Trini," Jason remarked, as they reached the blanket to find Kimberly gone, and Kira and Ethan sitting up, watching their teammates walk off in the opposite direction.

"What happened?" Kira asked as the four adults sat down.

"Your teammates were mistaking one another for punching bags," Jason replied as he pulled Trini down onto his lap, beside Kira. Billy sat down next to Ethan, and Zach sat on the end.

"What?" Ethan asked, looking slightly alarmed. "What were they fighting about?"

"Conner's fitness to be leader," Zach threw in.

"That doesn't make any sense," Kira replied. "Trent would never say anything like that. We all thought Conner was a good leader." She looked at Ethan. Something was wrong. "Who told you that's what they were fighting about?"

"Conner," Trini remarked. "So we were right? That wasn't the whole story?"

"Far from it," Ethan added. "But I've still no idea what the real story might have been."

"Where'd they go?" Kira asked, getting to her feet, Ethan directly behind her.

"The bathrooms over that way," Trini said, pointing into the distance.

"Thanks. We'll go figure out what got into them."

"And maybe beat them up for it," Ethan added with a laugh as he and Kira disappeared from sight. The adults watched them go, trying not to laugh.

"Ok, so Tommy doesn't have it so easy with those four," Billy said once they were out of sight.

"Teenagers are never easy," Trini told him.

"Yeah, but they're not even his kids, are they?" Zach asked.

"Zach, Tommy's only ten years old then they are," Billy said, shocked that he would even think that. Granted, he'd thought the same thing when Tommy first mentioned them, although the former ranger had only said 'kids' and never specified which age group.

"He could have adopted. You don't think he'd keep something like that from us?" Zach literally looked like he was convincing himself that the teens were Tommy's adopted children. His friends were giving him looks that said they though he might need to have his brain checked out a bit. "I mean you guys didn't say you were getting married."

"Zach, I'm positive Tommy doesn't have any children, least of all four teenagers who just happened to be power rangers, so relax." Trini told him, but the former black ranger didn't look too convinced.

"Look, he said he had to check with their parents and they call him Dr. O." Jason told him.

"What if it's a cover story? What if they never really were power rangers?" Zach had really gone off the deep end now. "I mean, maybe Tommy isn't telling the truth!"

"I give up," Trini said, throwing her arms up and flopping back against Jason, nearly knocking him onto his back due to the unexpected weight hitting his chest. He had to brace himself on his hands to keep from falling.

"I concur. While there seems to be no logical reasoning behind Zach's convictions, he appears to be positive of Tommy's paternity," Billy said, falling backward onto the blanket. Jason just looked at Zach now that Billy's head wasn't between them.

"You are a very special person," he told his friend. Zach just smiled.

"I still say he's their father."

Jason shook his head. "Where's Kimberly?" he finally asked the others who frowned and looked around for the woman, who had disappeared while they were preventing Trent and Conner from killing one another.

* * *

With all the other ranger's preoccupied by Conner and Trent's battle, Kimberly had decided to go in search of Tommy, corner him, and work some things out for herself. She'd woken up when Trini and Jason rejoined the group, but remained silent, glad to hear that her friends were going to back off a bit. She loved them, but she wouldn't hesitate to yell at them should they overstep any boundaries she decided existed. Granted, she wasn't exactly sure what the boundaries were at the moment, so she didn't know what overstepping would be. But she'd figure it out eventually.

She had to transverse nearly the entire length of the park before she found the former white ranger sitting in the grass, staring in the distance. He'd left his shirt back at the picnic sight, and Kimberly could see sweat all over him. He must have been running at some point. Obviously he wasn't that out of it, as he turned and looked at her the moment her footsteps were in hearing range. She couldn't tell if he was happy or annoyed to see her standing there, but either way, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"There you are," Kimberly said, smiling, hoping not to scare him off.

"Sorry, I needed to do some thinking. Is everyone looking for me?"

"No, just me," Kimberly responded, still keeping her eyes on him. Tommy, however, wasn't even acknowledging that she had eyes. He wouldn't look at her, just at the ground, where he was kicking a hole in the dirt. "Why'd you come here?"

"No reason," he told her simply. "Come on, we'd better head back," he told her, glancing at his watch. It was nearly two o'clock and he figured they should start figuring out what to do for dinner.

"Oh, alright," Kimberly responded, quite disappointed that one, he wouldn't tell her. And two, he seemed in a hurry to re-surround himself with everyone else. She almost decided not to let him go, to stop him from moving. Almost, but not quite. She wasn't ready to be that assertive. She just wanted to talk to him, out of range of all the others so that no other input could inhibit them from having an honest conversation.

Tommy was several feet in front of her when he turned around and noticed she hadn't moved. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," she responded, kicking her brain for its hesitation. "You're right, we'd better head back." She caught up to him as he nodded and they fell into step beside one another. They walked in silence for a few moments before Kimberly looked up at him and sighed. If she brought it up now, he'd probably make some excuse and take off running. Better to stick with safe, normal topics. "So, what's it like having a PhD?" So it wasn't the most intelligent question in the universe, but it was something.

"Oh, not really all that different. I get to sign things "Doctor" though. And I think it gets me more respect from the kids than if they had to run around calling me 'Mr. O'. Sounds like a cartoon character, don't you think?"

"Good point. They really do respect you, don't they?"

"Sometimes. Trent's always been respectful. Ethan is when he's not around Conner. I'm not sure Conner knows what respect is; and Kira. Well, Kira'd be the first one to tell me if I was being a jackass, but she's also the first to know when to be quiet and listen. She keeps the guys in line more than I do."

"She's a yellow ranger, what did you expect? Someone who lets others push her around?"

"Not exactly. But then again, I never expected any of them to end up being power rangers," he told her. Oh crap, wrong thing to say. How was he going to get out of this.

"You knew them before they were power rangers?" Kimberly asked. Tommy sighed and nodded. "And you weren't going to tell us this?"

"Didn't seem important," he mumbled. Maybe she would yell at him and it would get her mind off how he knew Conner, Kira, and Ethan before they were rangers. Not that telling her would be that bad. It could just open a whole bunch of questions that he really didn't need to be answering. Nor that he would want to answer in the first place.

Kimberly hit him lightly in the shoulder and then gave him a mock glare. "Alright Dr. Oliver, spill it."

"What?"

"You heard me. What is it you don't want to say?" Kimberly said, stepping in front of him, hands on her hips, giving him a 'tell me or I'll scream' look. It was one of those situations where no matter what, he was going to lose. He could tell Kimberly and hopefully that would be the end of it, or she'd scream, causing Jason, Billy, Zach, Trini, and the teens to come running. And if the kids got involved, they'd definitely tell everything, without leaving out a single detail.

"Fine, you win. A few years back I was working on a island lab on some experiments involving dinosaur DNA and technology," he began, and looked at Kimberly, prepared for her to interrupt. She just nodded, indicating she'd stay quiet until he was done. They resumed walking back towards the group. "Anyway, one of the experiments went wrong and turned my partner Anton Mercer (who is actually Trent's adoptive father) into Mesogog. Well, long story short, he tried to kill me but I escaped just as the lab exploded. Last year, my friend Haley from college, got me a job at Reefside High school as a science teacher. As the new guy, I got the pleasure of hosting detention the first day of school, with three very unique students."

"Three?"

"Yeah, Conner, Kira, and Ethan. All in detention for different reasons. They weren't friends, and could have cared less about one another. Anyway, rather than keep them locked up for hours in detention I took them on a field trip to the museum, which had to be the stupidest idea I ever had. And that includes the time I let you and the others help me with being forgetful," he continued, causing Kimberly to laugh a little at the memory that so obviously had backfired. Instead of helping, they had just seemed to make things worse for him. "Anton, who I thought was dead at the time (I didn't learn he was Mesogog until later) turned out to be the owner of the museum, and the next thing I know I'm fleeing from a living T-rex outside the museum. If it hadn't been for an overpass, I would have been lunch." Kimberly was trying not to laugh, as Tommy told her, but the idea of him running from another living dinosaur was quite funny. "I'm so glad you find this amusing," he told her dryly.

"Of course I do. I can just see it now."

"Yeah yeah. But anyway, the kids ended up arguing with one another and fell into a sink hole where they managed to find my secrete lab, which is in my basement, but they didn't know that at the time. They found the Dino gems, and each picked one up, bonding with it and its power. I couldn't have stopped them from getting the powers if I'd wanted to. We were chosen for our powers, the kids weren't. The power's chose them," Tommy told her and Kimberly nodded understanding. They'd had a choice. They could have turned down the power, but the teens didn't. They'd been forced to become power rangers. No wonder Tommy found it difficult to deal with them. They finally reached the place where the other's were and Tommy promised to finish the story later, as they rejoined the group.

"There you two are, we were getting worried," Trini remarked as they sat down, on opposite ends of the blanket. Zach was giving Tommy funny looks, but the former ranger wasn't paying attention.

"Uh guys, remember the four teenagers I was forced to bring with me from Reefside?" he asked the group who was playing a game of cards. Kimberly was inspecting Trini's hand, and Jason was trying to do the same, and failing.

"Affirmative," Billy remarked, studying his own cards.

"Well, where are they?" Tommy asked, slightly worried.

"Oh, well Conner and Trent were trying to kill each other," Jason remarked like it was no big deal. Tommy stared at him, eyes wide, his mouth parted as if he was going to say something. He took a deep breath.

"What happened?"

"Not exactly sure. They told us some lie about Trent saying Conner wasn't fit to be the leader, and we sent them off to get cleaned up. When Kira and Ethan found out they went after them, so I'm pretty sure they're taking care of their teammates, oh, and Zach thinks you're their father," Trini said, as she won the hand, and stole all the cheetos, chips, and cookies they'd been using as money from the center.

"They wha- wait, Zach thinks I'm what?" Tommy said looking at his friend who was grinning and finally fell over laughing. It took them several minutes to finally get him to stop laughing enough to talk.

"The look on Tommy's face just now was so worth making you guys think I'd cracked," he said between the last bits of giggles.

"I hate you," Tommy murmured, hitting him in the head with his shirt, and then pulling it back on. Billy, Jason, and Zach had already put their shirts on and the only three left belonged to the teens. Luckily Conner and Trent had chosen to go at it without their shirts on, which turned out to be a good thing. Their clothes remained clean, despite their bleeding.

* * *

Kira and Ethan reached the restrooms Trini had pointed out, but couldn't see Conner or Trent anywhere. Kira indicated the men's room and Ethan stuck his head in before motioning to Kira to follow him inside. There they found both former rangers on opposite ends of the sinks. Trent stood beside one, cleaning a graze on his elbow, while Conner was seated on the counter, applying pressure to his knee. Both boys were still glaring at one another, but the bleeding on their faces had finally stopped. They both looked up, probably expecting a furious Jason to come in and beat them worse than they already were, and stared at their teammates for a moment.

"Kira! What are you doing in here!" Conner finally squealed, trying to figure out exactly why there was a girl in the men's room.

"Oh shut up, Conner. What the hell did you two do to one another?" she said, going to Trent's side, taking a paper towel and cleaning a bit of dirt off his face. Once she was sure he was alright, she hit him. Conner laughed, and she hit him as well. "What got into you?" That eerie silence that had been following them took over again, and both refused to answer.

"I'd think twice about not answering her," Ethan told them, studying the job they did on one another. "You two did a wonderful job. Pent up energy? No mutated creatures to take your frustrations out on, so you figured you'd use each other?"

"Ethan," Trent began, but Kira glared at him.

"Ethan's right. What were you thinking? Dr. O's going to kill you when he sees these bruises, so if you want him to lay off, you'd better at least tell us what went on."

Conner and Trent both sighed, finally acknowledging that she was right, and that if they wanted out of this, they needed to explain.

"It's a long story," Conner said, one last attempt to get out of it. Kira just glared at him, turned, locked the door and turned back to them, arms crossed over her chest.

"It started because of last night," Trent told her.

"Last night?"

"Yeah, on the ride back to the hotel, Conner commented that Kimberly was hot, and well, Dr. O nearly caused a five car pile up as he swerved and almost crashed into a lamp post," Ethan explained, sitting down on the counter beside Conner.

"I've never been so scared in my entire life. Dr. O looked like he was going to kill us, until Zach called. He'd seen the car swerve and wanted to make sure everything was alright," Conner finished.

"Well, that explains why you three have been acting like Dr. O is Mesogog's twin brother. So, alright, what does this have to do with you two trying to rip the other apart."

"Well, we'd all figured that Dr. O and Kimberly must have been a couple at one point," Trent explained, and Kira confirmed that they were right. She'd been told at Trini's the night before. "So Conner got the bright idea that we should get Dr. O and Kimberly back together. He seems to think it'll get Dr. O to lighten up. But I told him it was a bad idea."

"We yelled at one another, tossed insults back and fourth, I said something about Trent being a bastard child, and the next thing I know, I'm on my back in the dirt, with Trent on top of me."

"You deserved it," Trent muttered.

"So you tried to kill each other, and the adults caught you?" Kira asked them. Both nodded. "Well, there you have it. We have the most immature team in the history of the power rangers." Ethan snickered a little, but no one protested that she was wrong. "So, did you learn your lessons?"

"Yeah, Trent is stronger than he looks," Conner laughed as he rubbed his sore cheek.

"And Conner has a mean left hook," Trent added, indicating his left eye. Kira sighed and shook her head.

"I will never understand you."

"We're guys Kira, we're supposed to be a mystery," Ethan laughed, hopping off the counter.

"Whatever. Anyway, we're going to stay out of Dr. O and Kimberly's love life. From what I heard last night, there's a lot more to it than anything we could expect, and it'd be way to complicated to fix. All that aside, Dr. O would probably recreate mesogog so he could tare out your entrails if you tried to mess around with this," the yellow ranger said, unlocking the bathroom door and slipping out, the other three behind her. Some woman near by gave them a funny look, especially because it was one girl and four guys who exited the men's room which only had two stalls.

Together, they made their way back towards the blankets. "Besides, there's something I think we should inquire about, and we won't get answers in Dr. O is trying to murder you," Kira added as they neared the group. "I want to know what happened while Dr. O was evil."

They reached the adults who were all playing cards, save Tommy who was pacing back and fourth. When he heard them arrive, he turned and looked at them. Conner's face was black and blue. His nose was slightly swollen. Trent couldn't open one eye, and his lip was swollen as well. Tommy just stared at them for a moment.

"I- I can't even leave you alone for a few minutes, can I?" he yelled, startling the group behind him and causing several by passers to give him strange looks.

"Please Dr. O, we already got lectured twice," Conner mumbled, sitting down on the blanket. Trent dropped down beside him. They looked officially embarrassed.

"Twice?"

"Yeah, Jason and the others ripped into them, and then Kira had her turn," Ethan explained, picking up the discarded Frisbee and going to return it to the beach bag. Tommy looked at Kira who shrugged.

"They got the whole speech about team work, and being stupid, and not to do it again," Kira told him. Tommy frowned at her and looked back at the two boys on the blanket.

"Fine, but you two will be cleaning up around the house for two days when we get back," he told them. Both nodded and sighed, glad that was over with.

"See, I told you he's their father," Zach said, standing up, a huge grin on his face that told everyone he was joking. Tommy glared at him and lunged, but the former black ranger took off running. Tommy didn't give up and chased him around until he finally managed to grab him by the back of his shirt and hurled him to the ground.

"Ha! I win!" Tommy told him, letting the other man get to his feet. He reached down to help his friend, but ended up being pulled to the ground as well. He turned and glared at Zach who just laughed and stood up.

"No, you lose," he corrected his friend before heading back over to the blanket to see what they were going to do for the next few hours, Tommy behind him.

"I could have beaten him," Tommy muttered when Jason gave him a questioning look.

"I know," Jason responded, patting his friend on the back. "I know, bro."

"You're all against me, aren't you?"

"It took you this long to figure that out?" Trini asked.

"Tommy, you make it too unproblematic to defeat you verbally," Billy explained. Tommy just glared at him and plopped back down beside Kira.

"So, what's the plan for the rest of the afternoon?" he asked, from his seated position.

"We figured we'd hang out here a bit longer, and then get pizza for dinner," Trini told him. Tommy just nodded and looked at Ethan who was still digging around in the beach bag.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something to do," Ethan replied, finally coming up and tossing a kick ball at Conner. "Lets play," he told him. Conner rolled his eyes, but didn't refuse. Trent followed, despite the fact that he could only see through one eye; and Kira chased after them, saying something about keeping her teammates out of trouble. Jason and Zach decided to toss a base ball they'd brought, and Billy went to join them, leaving Trini, Kimberly, and Tommy sitting on the blanket until Kimberly decided she wanted icecream.

"Anyone want to come with," she asked, getting up. Trini shook her head and layed back down on the blanket yawning.

"You had your nap, let me have mine," she mumbled.

"Tommy?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to go play with the kids. I've sort of been ignoring them so far and obviously that was a bad idea," he muttered rather quickly, and rushed off towards the teens, stealing the ball away from Conner, as they looked at him as if he'd gone insane. Kimberly sighed, grabbed her purse and walked off toward the ice cream truck parked on one end of the park.

She was absolutely positive that Tommy was avoiding her, and she was beginning to get annoyed. She paid the man in the tuck for a chocolate ice cream cone, and began the walk back, planning on finishing the ice cream and then marching right up to Tommy and giving the idiot a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, when one's mind is other places, they forget to watch where they're going. She walked straight into someone, managing to drop the ice cream she was carrying.

"What the-" She looked up and realized she'd walked directly into a very familiar person. Sighing she shook her head. "Sorry Bulk, I wasn't paying attention."

"No problem," he told her, looking over both their clothes. No mess made, no harm done.

"Where's Skull?" she asked him, noting his partner was uncommonly absent.

"We're not attached at the hip you know," he said, causing Kimberly to blush. He was right; none of them were in high school anymore; though some people she knew were acting like they were. "But he's off getting the things we'll need."

"Need? For what?" Kimberly asked, as she turned back to buy herself another ice cream cone, Bulk following her. He smiled and shook his head, as if not wanting to tell. "Oh come on, tell me."

"If I did, I'd jinx it," Bulk replied simply, buying himself a bit of ice cream as well, as the truck driver handed Kimberly a second cone, giving her a disapproving look. Kimberly just gave him her own look, daring him to say something.

"You're not going after the Power Rangers again, are you?" she asked, her voice filled with slight amusement. As they both turned around and headed in the direction of her friends.

"We told you at the bar yesterday that we figured this is our last chance."

"Why not give up? If they don't want their identities known, why not leave them be?"

Bulk shrugged, and Kimberly wasn't exactly sure he had a reason. "It's the principle of the thing," he stated. "We've always wanted to know; for like a decade now. And well, Angel Grove deserves to know who its protectors were."

"Maybe," Kimberly agreed, although thinking back on Conner's reaction, she definitely preferred that the pink ranger remain anonymous.

"There's rumor that some of them are staying at the hotel," Bulk explained suddenly. Kimberly stumbled, nearly dropping her ice cream a second time. She quickly pushed the uneasy look out of her face, as she was sure Bulk would notice. "You alright?"

"Yeah, my foot caught on the edge of the side walk," she lied, her face slightly green. Bulk just nodded and accepted her answer.

"Hey Kimmie!" Jason was waving to her, from the distance. The whole group turned to see why Jason had paused after Zach tossed the ball to him. Everyone waved.

"Who's she with?" Tommy asked, coming up beside Zach, Jason, and Billy, the kickball game having since ended, as Conner and Ethan swore that he was trying to kill them with the ball.

"You jealous?" Zach asked his friend with a laugh. Tommy glared at him for a second and then shook his head.

"Of course not."

"Sure, you're not," Jason said, hitting him in the back of the head.

"What was that for?"

"For deluding yourself," his best friend explained as they all walked toward Kimberly and her companion.

"Hey guys, you remember Bulk?" Kimberly explained.

"How could we forget," Jason laughed, shaking the larger man's hand. "How've you been?"

"Alright, and yourself? Heard you got married?"

"Yeah, to Trini. But how'd you know?"

"Word gets around fast in Angel Grove," he responded, as a very odd looking golf cart drove up. It was piled high with wires, things that spun, horns, streamers, and anything else that looked flashy but was most likely useless. Billy was sure there was even a Christmas star in it. "That's my ride. Nice see you," he said, before getting in, and driving off. Although, there didn't seem to be a driver in the cart.

"That was Bulk alright. A little more mature and polite maybe, but," Zach laughed.

"Yes, still the same Bulk," Billy agreed with Zach.

"One question, where was Skull?" Trini asked.

"I believe he was driving the golf cart," Jason put in, not completely sure as the group headed back to the blanket once again.

"Guys, we have a problem," Kimberly told them once she was positive Bulk and Skull were out of hearing distance.

"What's wrong Kimberly?" Kira asked, still trying to figure out what all the junk in the golf cart was for.

"Bulk said there's a rumor going around that the Power Rangers are staying at the hotel."

"Well, that's a bit too accurate," Trent put in.

"Ok, so for now, just lay low. It'd look more suspicious if you just randomly packed up," Jason explained as they all sat down again. And once again, Tommy sat on the complete opposite end of blanket than Kimberly. Unfortunately that left Conner with a problem. Sit closer to the man who might kill him, or sit closer to the woman who was the reason the man might kill him. Finally, Ethan just reached up and dragged the former red ranger into a sitting position closer to their science teacher, and Jason hit the older man in the head again. Tommy just glared at him.

"So Tommy, finish telling that story," Kimberly told him, a smirk on her lips. Tommy groaned. Avoiding Kim had its major downfalls.

"What story?" Ethan and Billy asked at the same time.

"Tommy was telling me how he met you guys and how you got your powers," Kimberly stated.

"Well, I didn't get my powers at the same time as the other three," Trent said, careful not to put in that he'd also gotten them after the black ranger.

"What's he told you so far?" Kira asked, ignoring the pained looks that Tommy was giving them. She gave him innocent smile.

"I told her that you three had detention with me, so I took you to the museum, and while I got chased by a living t-rex," Tommy's rant was interrupted by laughter from everywhere.

"What is it with you being chased by living dinosaurs, Tommy?" Jason asked him. Tommy just rolled his eyes as his friends continued to laugh at him.

"Are you all quite finished?" he asked them, as everyone nodded. Tommy shook his head. This was why they weren't going to find out about him being a black ranger.

"Anyway, Kira, Conner, and Ethan were fighting and they managed to fall into a sink hole which brought them to the secret lab in my basement," Tommy told them.

"Why was there a secret lab in your basement?" Billy asked him. "Never mind, don't answer that."

Tommy just glared at him, and resumed the throwing of cheetos. "I worked with a man named Anton Mercer before our lab exploded when an experiment went wrong and created Mesagog. I thought Mercer was dead, but it turns out he was Mesagog. Anyway, the kids didn't know it was my basement, but they found the dino gems, and by touching them, bonded with the powers."

"I still say we should have had a choice," Conner mumbled.

"You didn't get to choose?" Trini asked him. The teens all shook their heads.

"The dino gem's power chose who it wanted. It didn't give them a choice. But I suppose they learned their lesson about touching things that don't belong to them," he said, accidentally looking at Conner.

"Dr. O I swear, I didn't know it was yours. I won't touch or even think about it again," Conner stuttered, pushing himself farther away from Kimberly. All the older rangers looked from Tommy to Conner to Kimberly (as Zach busted out laughing), while the other three teens put their heads in their hands, exasperated with their leader. Kimberly was blushing bright red, suddenly realizing what was going on.

"So, they found the gems and then what?" she asked, switching the conversation back to the story. Tommy let out a sigh of relief, resolving to take care of Conner later when there were less witnesses.

"We can tell that part," Kira said enthusiastically. "The gems gave us these really weird powers we could use when we weren't morphed. I got a sonic scream, Conner got super speed, and Ethan's skin was suddenly really, really tough. When we got out of the sink hole, we were attacked immediately by Tyrannodrones, which were actually another experiment of Dr. O's and Mercer's that had been reprogrammed and were now under the complete control of Mesagog who wanted to destroy us. Some how, without any clue as to what was going on, we managed to beat them."

"They were like our putties," Tommy told his friends when Kira paused.

"Well, we decided not to mention what had happened, and just go to school the next day," Ethan picked up. "Kira gave the yellow gem to Conner, and we were headed home when Kira was attacked and kidnapped by another batch of tyrannodrones."

"Sorry," Tommy mumbled.

"Not exactly your fault, Dr. O. Well, partially your fault," she admitted, getting a laugh from everyone, including Tommy.

"So we went to the only person we figured we could go to: the stupid science teacher that had dragged us on this little field trip of hell. That's when we found out that the lab was his basement. Not the easiest thing to understand."

"We also found out he created the tyrannodrones, and then went looking for Kira," Conner put in.

"I managed to get away from Mesagog and his henchmen. He didn't believe I didn't have the yellow gem. But while I was running Icrashed into Elsa and Zeltrax, got rid of them with the sonic scream, and fell through an invisiportal and straight onto the hood of Dr. O's car."

"Talk about lucky," Zach put in.

"I'll say, because the next thing we knew we were battling Zeltrax and more of those damn tyrannodrones. I could kill Dr. O for ever creating them."

"I said I was sorry."

"We won, but the next day at school, Mesagog sent down these three huge Biozords: more of Dr. O's brilliant experiments. They were destroying Reefside. We went back to his lab and he gave us our Dino morphers. Dr. O explained to us that the Gems were from the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs and that the power inside them chose us. Also that they had bonded with our DNA, so Mesagog, in order to get rid of them, had the sole purpose of killing us. So really, we had no choice but to fight," Ethan had picked up.

"We morphed for the first time, faced more Tyrannodrones and Zeltrax, until Zeltrax boarded an aerial assault vehicle. Using our morphers we tamed the biozords, turning them good. Ethan got the tricerazord, Conner got the tyrannozord, and I got the pterazord. We formed the thudersaurus megazord, and defeated Zeltrax, again," Kira explained. "Dr. O gave us bracelets that would be our communicators and allow us to access our morphers at the same time, and that was basically it. We still had no idea that Dr. O had been a power ranger himself."

"Interesting story," Trini admitted.

"Way to go bro. You've been evil, good, a mentor, and the creator of weapons of mass destruction," Jason told him, laughing. "What are you going to do next?"

"He's going to Disney world," Zach added, and everyone laughed again.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep laughing. At least I haven't had a toddler pee on me."

"That was one time! One time!" Jason insisted, glaring at Tommy.

"Sure."

"What about all those times you were late and I had to cover as leader for you," Jason demanded.

"I had legitimate excuses," Tommy argued.

"Sure they were," Jason said, not bothering to elaborate. He didn't really want to embarrass Kimberly, or push the two further apart.

"And what about the time you were stupid enough to turn your back on me and get your ass sent to the Dark Dimension. I'm sure you had fun playing with Goldar."

"I didn't know you were evil!" Jason stated, as the argument went back and fourth.

"Oh come on, I wasn't that hard to figure out. I knew who you five were."

"That's because Rita told you."

"Are they going to kill each other?" Trent asked Trini, who shook her head.

"Nope, this is them being friendly."

"So uh, what are they arguing about?" Ethan asked.

"Tommy's time as an evil power ranger. It was pretty complicated," Kimberly explained.

"Could we hear?" Conner asked.

"You'd have to ask Tommy," Billy insisted. "That is if he and Jason ever stop arguing."

Tommy and Jason had moved off from the group a bit and were continuously throwing insults back and fourth, completely ignoring the other former rangers who were all sitting back watching, and passing a bag of popcorn around.

"This is actually better than a movie," Zach told them. Everyone nodded, and waited for the two leaders of the first power ranger team to stop arguing.

* * *

Ok, so chapter 4 is complete. And I've got to start work on chapter 5, but I'm getting down to the wire in school now, so I don't know how much time I'll have until we're dismissed for the year. Hope you're enjoying the story.  
Fateless Wanderer 


	5. The Trouble with Evil Rangers

Ok, so I don't usually post a chapter until I have the next one completely written and typed, but I felt like I needed to post something a little on the funny side since I've posted two tragedies this week. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

* * *

Tommy and Jason spent the next few minutes arguing with one another, throwing random insults about leadership qualities, past karate matches, long hair, turning evil, and many other issues that caused the older rangers to laugh, and the teens to just become more and more confused as the argument went forward.

Slowly, everyone else got started to get bored, allowing their attention to fade. Dinner was still several hours away, so they needed to find something to do that would occupy the time. Conner and Trent got the Frisbee back out, but Ethan, Billy, and Zack chose to accompany them this time, to make sure no one ended up bleeding or covered in bruises yet again. Kimberly, Trini, and Kira began an involved discussion on life as a female power ranger. Both older women gave Kira credit, since she was the only girl on the team.

"I mean, it wasn't incredibly horrible. Haley was there half the time and well, I get along with the guys better than I do with most girls."

"That's completely understandable," Trini told her. "But I think I would have been driven insane if Kimberly wasn't on the team."

"Pink had to be a girl. Imagine a guy in that suit," Kimberly added with a laugh. "Skirt and everything. Even my helmet was more feminine than anyone else's."

"You have a point," Trini told her.

"But its weird, Red, black, and green have always been guys, but the other colors have changed over time," Kira told them, laying back down on the blanket. Kimberly and Trini looked at her.

"What do you mean? And how do you know?"

"Well, Dr. O has a video diary of every ranger team before ours. We got to see it," Kira explained, neglecting to mention that they found it after he was kidnapped by Mesagog and Zeltrax, which led to his becoming the black ranger.

"Leave it to Tommy to follow the progress of every team since he stopped being a ranger," Trini said, amusement in her voice.

"Trini, Tommy couldn't stop being a power ranger if he wanted to. It's in his programming or something. I mean, he can even still morph," Kimberly told her. Kira shot up and looked at them.

"He can?" she asked, slightly worried. She was sure Dr. O's gem had been destroyed, just like hers and the guys. Besides, Kimberly and Trini didn't even know about the black Dino Gem.

"He stopped using the Zeo powers in order to use the stronger Turbo ones, but the Zeo crystal still exists, somewhere. And its power was never lost, so Tommy can become Zeo Ranger V if needed. So can Kat, Rocky, Tanya, and Adam. So yeah, there's still a fully powered ranger team out there if the world ever needed them," Trini explained.

"Dr. O never mentioned that."

"He's also got his ninjetti power. I've got mine, as do Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Billy. So that actually makes two full teams, although they overlap," Kimberly added.

"Lucky. I hate feeling powerless. You never fully appreciate something until it's gone."

"You're right, you don't," Trini told her. "Anyway, what were you saying about the other colors and genders? I'm rather curious."

"Ok, well, the first out of the ordinary was the Wild force rangers. They had Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and White. Yellow and White were girls."

"A female white ranger? I bet Tommy nearly flipped," Trini laughed.

"Probably," Kimberly agreed. Kira just laughed.

"Ninja storm was even weirder. It was the first team of three, at least to start. Red, Blue, and Yellow. But the weirdest was that yellow was a guy and blue the girl," Kira continued.

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. Add to that that the other three colors were Green, Crimson, and Navy. All guys, so Tori's like me. The only girl. We all fought together once."

"Crimson and Navy? So technically they had two blues and two reds?" Kimberly asked.

"Yep."

"That's one confused team," Kimberly added.

"Your own team's a bit unique as well, huh Kira?" Trini told her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we started out with five, but when Tommy joined, it was six. You said it yourself, that even Ninja storm which started out at three like you guys did, added three more, becoming a normal total of six," the first yellow ranger explained.

"You guys only finished with four," Kimberly observed, ticking the four teens off on her fingers. Kira bit her lip and nodded.

"Yeah, well, we just wanted to break the rules in some way," she lied, with a bit of a laugh. Kimberly and Trini looked at each other, but shrugged it off. They'd find out sooner or later. "All that's left really is for a guy to put on a pink ranger suit," Kira added, changing the subject back to something she was more comfortable with.

"I highly doubt that will ever happen. I mean, maybe we could get Zack to put one on for Halloween, but that's as likely as its going to get," Trini put in. Kimberly agreed, even going as far as to say she'd lend hers to Zack if it turned out he did want to be the first male pink ranger on earth, which sent the three of them into fits of laughter.

"So, what was it like growing up with Dr. O, Jason, Zack, and Billy?" Kira asked.

"Interesting," Trini said.

"Never a dull moment," Kimberly added. Kira looked at the four adults in question. Tommy and Jason were no longer arguing, but were talking quietly to one another. Jason seemed like he was lecturing Tommy, who rarely said anything, and mainly kept his eyes on his feet. On the other side, Zack and Billy were playing a game of two on three against Kira's teammates with the Frisbee, and it appeared that they were winning.

"I don't doubt it. It amazing that you've all stayed so close."

"Actually, we really didn't. I mean, even I think its crazy how easy it was to slip back into our normal friendships as if we'd never been apart," Kimberly told her.

"You mean you all haven't been in touch? Seeing each other frequently?" Kira asked.

"Nope. The last time the six of us were together was when were went on a mission to bring back the sword of light. We needed it to transfer our powers to Adam, Aisha, and Rocky when we went to the peace conference," Trini explained. "Jason, Zack, and I split apart after that. We stayed in contact a bit after that, but eventually I lost touch with everyone but Kimberly, and we only talked like once every few months or so."

"After I left the team, I returned for a short time with Jason to visit and saw Billy had already gone to Aquitar. He tried to stay in contact with Tommy, Adam, and Rocky, but eventually the fact that he was on another planet became too hard to overcome. We hadn't heard from him until Trini found a way to contact Aquitar. She spoke to one of his friends who told her he'd moved to Washington D.C. three years ago. After that, I went back to Florida, and didn't hear from anyone, except Trini on occasion."

"Jason and Tommy must have been in contact for a while, because they went on a mission to the moon a few years ago together, but then lost contact, because not even Jason knew exactly where to find him. It was coincidence that I happened to run into Jason several months ago, and when we eloped two weeks ago, I figured fate wanted us back together because we found Zack," Trini explained.

"You're really going to have to tell us the story of how you and Jason got together, Trini," Kimberly told her friend. "I never saw it coming; we always thought you and Billy'd end up together, until he fell for an alien."

"Billy was in love with an Alien?"

"Yeah, Tommy said her name was Cestria. She was the reason he didn't come home from Aquitar," Kimberly explained.

"What was he doing on another planet anyway?"

"That's a really long story, probably best told by Billy and Tommy since none of the rest of us were there," Trini explained. Kira nodded.

"It can wait. The guys and I really want to hear about Dr. O being evil. Especially Trent," Kira told them.

"Why?"

"Dr. O didn't tell you?"

"Nope, but I heard him say something about Trent when he was talking to Billy and Zach earlier."

"Trent was evil before he joined us. That's a whole other story in itself," Kira explained. "Not to mention he was adopted. It didn't help matters that his dad turned out to be Mesagog."

"You're kidding? That sounds so much like Tommy's life story. No wonder Trent's curious," Kimberly said, slightly amused.

"Well, in that case, we'll see if we can't convince him to tell the story," Trini replied looking towards the teens who were unfortunately being creamed by the older rangers. "You all had one very interesting ranger experience."

"You have no idea," Kira remarked, casting a glance at her science teacher who was laughing with Jason, obviously their argument finished. "No idea at all," she muttered so no one could hear.

* * *

"What do you think the girls are talking to Kira about?" Trent asked, as he tried to toss the Frisbee over Zack's head to Conner. Unfortunately, the former black ranger did a back flip and caught it with easy, sending it to Billy without any interference. They'd turned the game into a virtual keep away, and the teens were having difficulty getting the disk, and holding onto it longer than five seconds.

"Probably what we were like as kids," Zack told him. "You know, that's probably not a good thing," he told Billy. The blue ranger shrugged, as Conner managed to grab the disk before sending it to Ethan, and then was intercepted yet again by Zack.

"Not for me, I didn't do too many stupid things," Billy told him.

"Yeah, but Jason, Tommy, and I are doomed."

"Oh well," Billy said, a smile on his face, as he tossed the Frisbee again.

"Oh well? That's all you have to say? I thought we were friends."

"We are. Be glad my idea of friendship doesn't involve punching you in the face."

"Hey, we said we were sorry," Conner said, attempting the get the Frisbee, but landed on his back in the dirt instead. He stood up, grumbling about old people who didn't lose their physical abilities.

"We're not old," Zack retorted.

"Sure you're not," Ethan laughed, knowing they'd hit a sore spot in the older rangers. "You're just old enough to have had powers when I was in diapers."

"That's an exaggeration," Billy told him. "Unless you were in diapers at age seven?"

"Ok, but we could have still been among those kids you took trick-o-treating. You're not exactly young anymore," Trent laughed, grabbing the Frisbee back. Zack grumbled and glared at them.

"Do you think Tommy'd be mad if I morphed and used my power axe on them?" Zach asked him. Billy shook his head.

"I won't tell if I can use my ninjetti wolf powers as well."

"Hey, no fair. We don't have powers," Conner stated, tossing the Frisbee over Billy's head into Trent's waiting arms.

"Well, don't start fights with people who can kick your butt."

"That's funny. You wouldn't be so cocky if we could morph. We'd kick your asses," Trent told the two older rangers.

"He sounds like Tommy," Billy told his friend and former teammate, grabbing the Frisbee from the air as Trent attempted to get it to Ethan.

"Actually, he sounds like Tommy when he was evil," Zack put in.

"What's with Dr. O and being evil? Is it really that big a story?" Ethan asked, trying to find an opening to get the Frisbee back. Zach and Billy were easily tossing it back and fourth above the teens heads, occasionally throwing in a back flip or so, but neither seemed to be having to terribly difficult of a time.

"It was rather complicated, and well, it lasted for a while. The problem was, that once we freed him from the spell, he remembered everything," Zack told the teens, without taking his concentration off the game.

"Everything? You mean Dr. O remembers trying to kill you?"

"Affirmative. It was rather difficult for him at first, because while we accepted the fact that he'd been under a spell, he still didn't understand why we were so forgiving. He did try to kill us. Almost succeeded in killing Jason, and now they're best friends."

"So, if Dr. O remembers everything, he shouldn't have any trouble telling us about it," Ethan said, a grin playing on his face. The adults stopped the game for a moment and looked back and fourth between one another.

"Uh, Ethan, if Dr. O hasn't told us, he probably doesn't want us to know. I mean, I certainly don't want to recall anything I did when I was evil," Trent told him.

"Still, we could at least ask. If he doesn't want to tell, he doesn't have to," Conner informed them as the game resumed, Billy and Zack glad that the teens realized it was a tough subject.

"How did you end up evil Trent? Tommy was placed under a spell and kidnapped. What about you?"

"I didn't know my dad was Mesagog, and well, I found the white Dino gem, which he'd be keeping, making it evil, and when it bonded with me, it took over. It wasn't until much later that the evil in my gem was destroyed and I could join the others."

"Wow, that kind of sucks," Zack told him.

"You don't know the half of it."

"You're right, we don't. Only one other person here could completely understand you," Billy informed him. "And maybe he should tell you four about his past. We'll see if we can convince him," he added. Zack nodded. Perhaps the kids needed to hear how Tommy first became a ranger. Maybe they all needed to be reminded of what they've been through.

They ended the game and began walking over to the girls, sweating a bit. Trent placed himself behind Kira and began to tickle the back of her neck with a blade of grass, which she snatched from his hands, causing the former white ranger to look rather defeated. She smiled, and leaned back and kissed him, before looking around nervously to make sure her science teacher wasn't going to lecture them on the benefits of abstinence in front of everyone, not to mention the entire park. She was pretty sure, he wouldn't keep his voice down.

"So did you miss us?" Zack asked, as he sat down beside Kimberly and poked her side, causing her to squirm.

"Of course not," she laughed and poked him back. He began to tickle her mercilessly, until the next thing she knew, she had managed to end up in Billy's lap. The blue ranger was looking down on his friend, with an incredibly amused smile on his face.

"Aww, I didn't know you like me that much," he teased her. "Tommy'll be mad."

"Oh well," Kimberly said, although she was blushing at his comment. She glared at Zack, and removed herself from her friends lap, hitting the former black ranger with her fist. He rubbed the spot on his shoulder where she'd hit him and threatened to tell Jason on her.

Trini and the others burst into fits of laughter.

* * *

The small argument on the other side of the area had escalated into a full blown shouting match. It was actually a surprise that both men weren't punching one another in the face, as Trent and Conner had done.

"And after Zordon made you leader, you were supposed to be the leader!"

"I was the leader! I got us through tons of stuff!" Tommy yelled back.

"Ha right. That's when you weren't late!"

"Late! I was never late. I was never the last one there."

"That's because Kimberly ran slower than you did!"

"Don't bring her into this. This is between you and me."

"Why not? Still got a thing for her, don't you Tommy-boy," Jason egged him on.

"No. She's just… she has nothing to do with this," Tommy yelled back. Luckily they were out of hearing range of their friends, or there were be plenty of questions. He could already sense them watching the argument. The last thing he needed was one them coming up behind him and hearing exactly what was going on. He prayed that they would be staying right where they were.

"Face it. She has everything to do with this; everything to do with you, and you know it."

"Jason, this isn't about her! It's about… Well, I don't know what it's about, but it has nothing to do with Kimberly."

"Then why have you been avoiding her all day?"

"What?"

"Tommy, you've been avoiding Kimberly all day. Whether intentionally or by accident, you've haven't been around her alone more than the few minutes it took to for her to find you," Jason said, lowering his voice.

"Yeah well, I don't know," Tommy confessed, lowering his voice since Jason had stopped yelling as well. They both sat down in the grass, and Tommy began to pull blades from the ground, twirling them around in his fingers, while staring off into the distance, completely losing himself in thought. "She makes me so crazy! I don't know what to think anymore."

"Why not try talking to her?"

"Because that's the last thing I want to do. I don't want her to know she nearly killed me with that damn letter," Tommy told him, and turned to face him. "And you won't tell her."

"If I was going to go to Kim with the sob story of how badly she hurt you, I would have done it by now," Jason retorted, rolling his eyes. "And I've already told you, I think there's more to it then what we know. I don't think there was a guy, Tommy."

"So, what, she just broke up with me for no reason at all? Thanks, but I prefer to at least have been second to someone, than just her being bored."

"I don't know, bro. But you won't know until you talk to her. Or at least stop acting like she's got some kind of contagious virus that you're going to catch if you spend more than two minutes in the same area as her."

"Maybe you're right," Tommy replied, as they both layed back in the grass and stared up at the sky. "But maybe this was just how it was supposed to be. Maybe we weren't supposed to end up together. I mean, if we were destined to be power rangers, maybe Kimberly and I were destined to break up."

Jason shook his head, but kept his eyes on the clouds moving above him. If he squinted his eyes he saw a battle between the Tyrannosaurus and the Dragonzord; and neither was winning. "I don't think so. I never saw either of you happier than when you were together. That's why I never grilled you for being late. You were making Kimberly happy."

"If she was so happy, why'd she end it?"

"I already told you man, you've got to talk to her. She hasn't told me anything, and I doubt any of the others know more than we do; well, maybe Trini, but you'll never get anything out of her," Jason explained. "You've really just got to stop avoiding her."

Tommy didn't say anything for several minutes. His eyes were locked onto the clouds. Funny enough, he was seeing the same battle that Jason was. The only difference was that the dragonzord was slowly starting to evaporate, leaving the Tyrannosaurus alone and obviously victorious. Tommy shook his head, desperate to pretend he'd imagined it, as he turned his head to look at the side of Jason's, and then sat up slowly. Jason, sensing his movement sat up as well and looked back in the direction of their friends and then back to Tommy. "You know, she's probably telling Trini and Kira how hot you are." Tommy just looked at him, and punched him lightly in the arm.

"I'm sure Kira doesn't want to hear that. Can you imagine people telling you Ms. Appleby was hot?"

Jason began to make gagging sounds, and they both burst out laughing. "You've got a point. But you're not as old as Ms. Appleby was when we were in her class."

"True. She's got to be like what, sixty by now?"

"Why, you interested?" Jason teased.

"Ok, now you're trying to make me sick," Tommy replied, turning a slight greenish color.

"No really, cause I could probably get you her number. She's probably teaching at the high school still," Jason insisted, as the guys finished their game and joined Kimberly, Kira, and Trini on the blanket.

"Jason, if you don't," Tommy began.

"If I don't stop you'll what? Send me to the dark dimension? Been there, done that," Jason laughed, standing up and reaching a hand down to help Tommy up. "Come on, back to the group. And you'd better stop avoiding Kimberly, or she's going to end up with Billy," he said, pointing at the group. Tommy frowned and then looked over to see Kimberly climbing out of Billy's lap. His eyes got wide with anger for a moment, but he pushed the feelings of jealousy aside. So what? Kimberly had been sitting in Billy's lap. It wasn't like she was his property. They weren't even really friends, let alone a couple anymore. And Billy had known Kim all her life. He had nothing to be jealous of.

But what if Kimberly did fall for Billy? What if she was really impressed by what Aquitar had seemingly done to her old friend? What if they got married and had a whole gaggle of little genius gymnast children who all grew up to be power rangers? "Tommy? Tommy man, you there?"

"Huh? What?"

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just fine," Tommy replied, squashing down the rage he felt one more time as he followed Jason back to the group. He wasn't really thinking clearly, and to everyone's surprise, he planted himself directly between Billy and Kimberly, shooting Billy a look that would have made Conner wet himself in fear. No one but Billy and Jason noticed it though. Jason just smiled inwardly, knowing his comments had stirred something in his friend, while Billy shrugged. He knew from experience that a look like that from Tommy meant back off. "So, what are we talking about?" he asked, a bit of an edge in his voice.

"Well, actually, Kira wanted to know something," Trini began. Kira shrank back a bit, as did the other teens when Tommy's eyes fell on the group of four of them.

"And what exactly does she want to know?"

"They all want to know about, well, your first battles as a ranger," Zack said, hoping Tommy would know what he meant without him having to say it.

"Before I joined you guys?" Tommy asked, and the other rangers nodded.

"You want Tommy to explain how he nearly killed me?" Jason asked his wife pouting.

"Yes honey. It wasn't that bad."

"Yes it was. He tried to kill me," Jason insisted.

"I might do it again," Tommy told him, leaning into the group and looking at the teens. "You really want to hear this?" he asked, sort of hoping that they'd change their minds. It wasn't exactly something he wanted to explain.

"Yes?" Ethan asked, more than stated. He wasn't sure it was all that of a good idea, especially since Tommy had nearly killed them all the night before because Conner had said something stupid.

"I guess there's no use trying to pretend it didn't happen anymore. But you guys tell, I don't think I can," Tommy told his friends. Jason nodded and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. Kimberly rested her hand on his knee and gave him a sympathetic look. He gave her a small smile back. Maybe he should listen to Jason more often.

"So, Tommy had just moved to Angel Grove. There was a karate expo going on at the youth center, and we were opponents. It was the first time we ever sparred against one another, and it ended in a draw. It usually did from then on," Jason began the story. "But we really didn't speak much that day."

"It wasn't until the next day at school that we really got to know what type of person Tommy was," Kimberly picked up. Tommy just gave her a bit of a smile when she looked at him, as if saying it was alright to go on. "Bulk and Skull were harassing me at my locker. Skull had always had a crush on me and for some reason didn't get that I wasn't interested. I could have taken care of it myself, but Tommy happened to notice and chased them off. I have to admit, I smitten instantly," she said, patting him on the knee. "Anyway, I invited Tommy to meet us all at the youth center after school, and he promised to meet us there. He never did though, and he never told us exactly what happened," she said, looking at him apologetically. Tommy sighed, knowing he had no choice but to pick up the story.

"I was on my way to the youth center but Rita sent her putties to attack. Apparently it was a test, and I beat them all so I passed. She kidnapped me and turned me evil using the green power coin she had. I was powerless to stop it," Tommy explained, not looking at any of his friends, or the teens. All of the adults had looks that said they understood, while the teens were watching, trying to figure out what to make of the whole thing. "The power coin gave me access to the Power Ranger's command center, so I let myself in, put a virus disk inside Alpha (I can't believe he forgave me for that) and severed Zordon's link with earth by destroying half the consoles, and then left before anyone could discover me."

"Alpha managed to contact us, and we took the RADBUG, which was a flying car Billy'd created, to get to the command center, only to find it in ruins, with no idea as to what had happened," Trini picked up the story. "We got the disk out of Alpha, returning him to normal, but there was no getting Zordon back at the moment. We felt completely defenseless, and to make matter's worse," she stated.

"Sorry," Tommy muttered, still feeling extremely guilty. He knew he wasn't in control when the events occurred, but he still felt he couldn't apologize enough. Kimberly squeezed his knee, as if trying to give him strength.

"To make matter's worse, a giant Goldar was attacking Angel Grove," Trini restarted. "So, we did what we always did. We morphed, took out some putties, and then used the Megazord running on solar power to try to bring down Goldar." She paused and gave Tommy a reassuring smile. While she believed that they needed to tell the teens the story she knew that Tommy didn't want to relive those few days. She didn't want to relive them. No one did. There was too much pain; too much room for Tommy to go back to the point where he questioned why they forgave him. It was simple. They understood that he hadn't made the choice to be evil. He hadn't wanted to attack them, and once the spell was broken, he'd immediately wanted to be good. He wanted to be their ally and they wanted to forgive him.

"The next thing we knew, the green ranger, as we didn't know that he was Tommy, boarded the megazord with the use of his power coin, and ejected us from the controls. One on five, he defeated us easily. It was as if we were nothing. We'd never faced anyone as powerful," Billy picked up the story. Tommy was grateful that his friend had decided to keep his identity more separate from the green ranger in the story. It told him his friends really did believe he wasn't acting on his own free will. "We were forced to retreat to the command center, where, due to the virus, Alpha was forced to shut down completely. So, alone, no Alpha or Zordon to tell us what we should do, we watched as the green ranger vowed to destroy us over the viewing globe."

"The next day, Billy managed to repair the damage the green ranger had done to Alpha," Zack told them.

"I still can't believe what I did," Tommy muttered.

"You didn't bro. It was the evil of the coin. You couldn't control it no more than you can control how you feel," Jason told him. Tommy just stared at him for moment, listening to the hidden meaning in his words and looking towards the sky for a moment as the sun began to set. He sighed and turned back to his friends and the students who were staring at him.

"Rita decided to make the hold she had on me stronger and permanent by giving me the sword of darkness. But again, I needed to be tested. She had me defeat a larger group of putties single handedly, without the use of the green ranger powers. Even unmorphed, the coin controlled my every move. I defeated them easily and was given the sword, basically sealing my fate. I returned to the high school, and I hate to say it, but I was a real jack ass. I totally blew off Kimberly, and when Jason came to say he wouldn't be able to work out after school, I feigned acceptance of his proposal for a rain check, and used my power coin to send him into the dark dimension where I knew Goldar would be waiting for him."

"So you basically sent Jason to his death?" Conner asked, and immediately looked away, wanting to kill himself. Tommy shook his head and laughed.

"Probably, except Jason was known for dumb luck," Tommy told him, trying to bring some humor to the situation.

"What luck? It was all skill that I made it out of that situation," Jason argued.

"Right, so that's why you were so grateful when the others finally saved your lucky ass?" Tommy asked him.

"Skill bro, pure and simple."

"Right, so I sent the delusional red ranger to his demise at the hands of Goldar, then morphed and waited for the remaining rangers. I was winning, so they formed the megazord, but I attacked it using the sword of darkness. The blasts were deflected back at me, and I took some major hits, which were actually the result of my own attacks; so yeah, neither of us were winning this one."

"And I was lucky enough to find myself in one of Rita's dark dimensions, facing Goldar, who somehow had stolen my morpher. So, powerless, I had to use everything I knew to avoid being skewered on the end of his sword, which was actually easier said than done. He knocked me to the ground and had the point of his sword aimed at my chest, as he threw my morpher somewhere into the mist that covered the floor of the room."

"What happened? How did you guys get away from Dr. O? How'd Jason not get killed by Goldar?" Ethan began asking when Jason paused. Tommy shook his head, and looked at his watch.

"We'll finish the story another time, its getting really late," he told them, standing up. The other adults agreed, especially ZacK's stomach. Conner's was very much in agreement. Zack went to collect the Frisbee, kickball, and baseball that they had used for entertainment, while Billy picked up the deck of cards they'd been using and deposited them all in one bag. All the guys pulled on discarded pieces of clothing, the girls slipped on shoes that they had at random times removed. The teens packed up the blanket and the weights, while Tommy and Jason cleaned up the trash. Kimberly and Trini put the picnic basket back together, and gave the area a once over before they were sure they had everything.

"So dinner time?" Conner asked.

"Showers first," Tommy informed him. "And I want to see if we can't do anything about yours and Trent's appearances. I still can't believe what you two did. We're going to be having a long talk later."

"Paternity test," Zack whispered into Billy's ear, just loud enough from Tommy to hear. The former multicolored ranger glared at his friend and then shook his head.

"This time you four ride with me. We'll get back to the hotel faster," Tommy told them.

"And we'll drop Kimberly and Zack off, then head back to our place to shower," Trini said, handing the keys to Jason as they began the walk towards the cars, Jason carrying the bag with the weights this time, and glaring at Billy anytime he got to close. He was like one of those really vicious guard dogs who refused to be distracted by anything.

The drive back to the hotel was pretty uneventful. Separated from all the adults yet again, Conner, Ethan, and Trent let loose all their amazement from the day. Kira threw in one or two comments, but mainly just laughed at them. Obviously the awe had worn off on her much more quickly than it did on the guys, although, none of them were pretending to be the shy teenagers they'd been when they first arrived. Conner did say something about there being more guys on the teams because they were better fighters and Kira threw her flip flop at him. None of the other guys said anything, as she still had her other flip flop, and they knew she wouldn't hesitate to use it, even on Dr. O.

By the time they reached the hotel, the sky had completely darkened. Not because of the disappearing sun, but because of the rain that had begun to fall in sheets. The storm had apparently come out of no where, and Ethan suggested they just stand outside in the parking lot instead of taking individual showers, as they all ran for the cover of the overhang of the hotel, where Zack and Kimberly had been dropped off.

"Jason and Trini said we'd meet at the pizza place at 8:00. That sound good to you?" Kimberly asked, when Tommy reached the group, dripping wet. He nodded, spraying water everywhere. "You know, it's probably a good thing your hair is gone. You probably would have just soaked us all."

"Ha ha," he remarked, following everyone into the hotel. "Kira, meet back at the guys room at 7:30," he told her as they crossed to the elevators.

"She can ride with me Tommy; no need for her to rush."

"Are you sure? I mean, you've already done enough, Kim," Tommy told the woman who was at that point nearly standing on his feet, since the six of them had crowded into the hotel's tiny elevator. It could have been romantic, except for the fact that Zack was on his left, and there was something sharp sticking into his back, which he assumed was the edge of Kira's purse as she was the one right behind him. Conner, Trent, and Ethan were busy discussing everything and nothing at the same time, obviously forgetting they weren't the only inhabitants of planet earth.

"Positive. It's no problem at all," Kimberly assured him. Tommy just nodded and gave her a small smile as the elevator finally reached the sixth floor.

"Be good you two," Zack laughed as everyone else got off the machine and stepped out into the hall. He pushed the door close button before Tommy could even think to lunge at him and cut off his air supply.

"They just don't quit," Tommy muttered, running his hand through his wet hair. "Well, see you at eight," he told Kimberly who nodded, and they both turned following their respective teens down the halls.

Tommy gave a quick glance over his shoulder as Kim disappeared into her room behind Kira. He shook his head, and finished the walk to his own room. He cracked the door to the guys room, and poked his head in to find all three sitting around.

"One of you better be done showering by the time I get out of my shower," he told them, and closed the door. He'd deal with them later. Right now, all he wanted to do was jump in for a shower and wash all the grime and sweat off that was making him feel dirty. Not that he had anyone to look good for. He denied the part of his mind that kept saying he only felt dirty because Kimberly was only a few rooms away. The sensible part of him argued that he felt dirty because he'd been running around with his old friends all day in a park in ninety degree weather. No girl had anything to do with it. With that resolve in mind, he shut and locked the bathroom door.

* * *

Chapter 5 complete. And some idiot is yelling stupid stuff outside my window. Oh well, that's college for you.  
Fatelesswanderer 


	6. Pizza, Ice, and Boxers

YAY for fun stories. I'm having a lot of fun writing this. Anyway, please enjoy.

* * *

One could have hoped that they could get to a simple dinner on time. Heck, it wasn't even one of those dinners where you had to be all dressed up; and yet it seemed as if it were impossible to make it on time, especially when the people he was meeting were expecting him to be late.

"Conner! Conner, are you finished yet?" Tommy said, pounding on the bathroom door. Ethan and Trent sat on their respective beds, watching their science teacher getting more and more irritated with the former red ranger.

"Almost! I can't get the swelling to go down!" the voice on the other side of the door called back.

Trent had managed to clean up, and other than the slight discoloration around his eye, no one would know he'd nearly beaten the crap out of one of his friends. Conner on the other hand refused to even come out of the bathroom until he was sure the swelling around his nose went down. Granted, you'd have to have been looking for it to tell it was even swollen, but Conner insisted his nose could be seen from outer space.

"Conner, you look fine. Now come on, we're going to be late," Tommy insisted, glancing at his watch. It was already seven fifty five, giving them five minutes to make it to a restaurant twenty minutes away, if they were going to be on time.

Conner finally opened the door to the bathroom, glared at Trent, and grabbed his red and white checkered over shirt off his bed and thrust it on as Ethan ran into the bathroom.

"Ethan!" Tommy shouted, exasperated with the teens.

"Sorry, Dr. O, but Conner's been hogging the bathroom a long time," Ethan called through the door.

"You could have used mine!" Tommy shouted in return, glaring at the white door, hoping Ethan could perceive the evil look of death he was giving him.

"Um… I forgot," was the response after a few moments pause, which made time sure his glare had made it through the barrier.

Tommy threw his hands up, and flopped down on Ethan's bed, landing on his back. He placed one hand over his eyes and began rocking back and fourth.

"I give up! I completely give up! You win! I'll stop trying to be on time! I give up!" he shouted, and then resumed uttering over and over that he gave up.

"Dr. O?"

"What?" Tommy responded when he heard Trent's voice. He opened his eyes to see all three teens staring down at him, worried looks on their faces. They weren't sure if they should be going to dinner, or taking him to a psychiatric hospital.

"Dr. O, we're going to be late if you don't get up," Conner told him, and Tommy immediately lunged forward to grab him by the neck. He knew it was wrong, but at that point, he didn't care. Jail would be preferable to spending any more time with the teens.

Ethan and Trent grabbed his arms and shoved him back down on the bed as Conner retreated to the opposite end of the room.

"No Dr. O, no killing Conner," Ethan told him as Conner backed up even further.

"Haley would be mad," Trent put in, although that point hadn't stopped him from trying earlier. Tommy sighed and shook his head.

"Fine, but he's riding in the back seat with one of you," he said, standing up, fixing his shirt, and walking out of the room, all three of the guys behind him.

When they reached the parking lot, Tommy warned Conner that if he made one more comment, he'd be riding on the roof and climbed into the jeep beside Ethan, who was riding shot gun, forcing Trent and Conner to sit in the back with nothing between them.

"And no fighting; my car is not a wrestling ring," Tommy told them, glancing in the mirror to see both youths glaring at one another. Half way to the restaurant, Tommy's cell phone rang, and as he went to answer, it slipped from his hands to the floor. Ethan picked it up and looked at the name.

"It's Jason," he told Tommy, who shook his head and sighed.

"Answer it," he told the former blue ranger who immediately complied.

"Hey Jason, its Ethan."

"Oh, hey. Where's Tommy?" Jason answered.

"Driving. Conner locked himself in the bathroom for a while. Had to make sure he looked pretty," Ethan replied, and Conner, who was behind him, hit him in the back of the head. Jason laughed a bit.

"Alright, well, tell him he's late," Jason told him. Ethan could hear the rest of the group in the back ground.

"Dr. O, Jason says you're late."

"No shit," Tommy replied, dryly. "Just tell him to go make out with his wife in the restrooms and we'll be there before he finishes." Ethan's face went white.

"Do I have to?"

"No, I heard him," Jason told the boy. "Just tell him Billy's keeping Kimberly warm until he gets here."

"Uh…" Ethan wasn't exactly sure what to say, but luckily Tommy's phone beeped, indicating another incoming call. "Sorry Jason, gotta go. Dr. O's getting another call. See you in a bit," Ethan said, switching the line without waiting for a response. "Hello?"

"Ethan?"

"Haley! Hey guys, its Haley," Ethan told the other two in the back seat.

"Ethan, give me the phone," Tommy demanded. Ethan just shook his head.

"Haley, you'd never have guessed! Billy's an absolute genius, and they're all so cool!"

"Uh, that's great Ethan," Haley laughed as Ethan passed the phone to Conner.

"Haley, Dr. O and Trent tried to kill me!"

"Conner, I'm sure you're exaggerating," Haley replied, sitting down to make herself comfortable. This could take a while.

"I'm not, I swear," he argued.

"Alright, put Trent on then," Haley said, sighing. She figured Tommy must have been having tons of fun. Conner handed the cell phone to Trent.

"Hello?"

"Why did you try to kill Conner?" Haley asked bluntly without so much as a hello.

"Long story," Trent replied, looking at Conner like he was going to try and kill him again.

"Code for 'if I tell you, Dr. O will kill me'?" Haley asked.

"Yep," the former white ranger replied simply. Haley just shook her head.

"Alright, just don't kill your teammates. Put Kira on, I suppose she's next."

"She's not here." He was a real conversationalist.

"Really?" Haley sounded surprised. What had Tommy done to Kira? "Where is she?"

"She's been rooming with Dr. O's old friend Kimberly. They're already at dinner; Conner made us late," Trent informed her.

"Oh," Haley paused for a moment. "Well, give the phone to Tommy," Haley told him.

"Alright, bye," Trent passed the phone to Tommy and sat back as the restaurant slowly came into view.

"Hello?"

"Sounds like you're having a blast."

"Oh yes, it's a regular three ring circus. Complete with clowns," he told her, as they pulled into the parking lot. The teens jumped out of the car, claiming they were starving, leaving Tommy leaning against the jeep, the phone to his ear, as they ran into the pizza place.

Trent plopped down into the chair beside Kira, while Conner and Ethan sat across from them, leaving one remaining space for Tommy to fill between Zack and Kimberly.

The group had already managed to empty three baskets of bread sticks while waiting. According to Kira, who was sipping her half empty drink, they'd sent the waitress away twice because Tommy and the other's weren't there.

"What's taking him so long, anyway?" Kimberly asked, poking her head around the potted plant, and looking out the window at Tommy who was happily chatting away on the phone.

"Oh, he's talking to Haley," Ethan responded. Kimberly just frowned and looked at her other friends. All of them seemed just as clueless as she did. Jason just shook his head and called the waitress over.

"We'll order now. The last person can order when he comes in," he told her, before placing his order. Trini was next, followed by Billy, Zack, Kimberly, Kira, Trent, Conner, and Ethan. By the time they'd finished, the waitress thought her pen was out of ink. She disappeared, promising to bring the three young guys their drinks in a moment.

"Who's Haley anyway?" Trini asked the group of teens. She remembered that Kira mentioned her earlier.

"She owns the local hang out, Cyberspace. She was also our teams tech person," Kira explained. "You guys got to talk to her?" she asked the boys.

"Just for a few seconds; Dr. O wanted his phone back," Trent explained.

"I hope he lets me say hi; I'm gonna go as him," Kira said, jumping up from the table and heading towards the door.

"Tell him if he's not in here in one minute we're going to shave his head while he sleeps," Zack called after her. Kira nodded and waved back in a silent promise and stepped outside and in front of her science teacher. Tommy looked at her.

"Yes?"

"I want to say hi to Haley; oh, and Zack says if you don't get in there now, they're going to make you bald," Kira told him simply.

"Uh, Haley, I have to go. Here's Kira," Tommy responded, tossing her the phone before Haley even responded.

"Hi Haley!"

"Hey Kira, what's up?"

"Nothing much; Listen, do you know anything about Dr. O's friend Kimberly?" she asked once she was sure that Tommy was inside, at the table, yelling at Jason for not waiting for him before ordering. She noticed Kimberly was ignoring him, instead focusing her attention heavily on a conversation she was having with Billy across the table.

"Friend? They're not friends. At least they weren't a few days ago. I hear you're staying with her." Haley didn't sound very happy with the fact.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool. Why aren't they friends, I mean they were together weren't they?"

"Yeah, but… don't tell him or the boys I told you… but she broke his heart, and they never really resolved anything."

"So, you don't like her?" Kira asked, still looking inside. Personally, she thought Kim would be good for Tommy, but who was she to say anything.

"Lets just say I don't trust her; but if Tommy wants to be her friend, its his choice. Why are you asking?"

"Just curious. We're finding out so much about Dr. O, its scary."

"Really?"

"Yeah, did you know he was a pirate for Halloween once?" Kira asked.

"Actually, no. Keep notes for me, Kira."

"Definitely. Anyway, I should probably head back in."

"Alright, enjoy. Bye Kira."

"Later Haley," she responded, hanging up the phone, and walking back in, to see her pizza at the table already. She tossed Tommy his phone. The others were eating and were all engaged in different conversations. She took her seat between Kimberly and Trent, and joined her teammates in a conversation about which was stranger: being super heroes, or being with their science teacher and his friends. Kira and Ethan voted for being super heroes; while their two teammates insisted that hanging around Tommy while he was reliving his teenage years was by far the strangest thing ever. Other than that, dinner conversation was relatively normal; at least until they were half way through, and seemingly without cause, Kimberly's composure snapped.

"Zack? Could you please pass the cheese?"

Her statement wasn't exactly all that weird, unless you took into account that she cut off Tommy and Zack's conversation about how he'd first met Haley, that the volume of her voice was loud enough to draw the attention of the entire table, and also that the cheese was closer to Tommy, who was sitting between her and Zack. Everyone just sort of looked at her, as Zack passed the cheese, afraid of what might happen if he didn't.

"What? Can't a person ask for cheese from someone?" she demanded. The four teens quickly turned their attention to their plates, but the other five continued to stare at her.

"Not when they're sitting beside the person who has it," Jason informed her. She glared at him as if he were one of Lord Zedd's monsters.

"Stay out of it, Jason," he voice was like venom, and would have made anyone back down; except Jason, who didn't even flinch. "If someone is going to ignore me, than it's my own prerogative to ignore that someone back if I want to."

"Fine; I just thought maybe we could act like adults. Guess I was wrong," he shot back at her.

"Oh, so now I'm not an adult? I don't see you jumping down someone else's throat!" She had reached shouting level and was drawing the attention of everyone in the restaurant. The teens were still pretending to be fascinated by their silverware; Jason was glaring at her. Trini had her hand blocking her face. Zack was wide eyed in shock. Billy appeared to be wishing to be back on Aquitar, and Tommy was glowing bright red.

"Forget it. Just… lets just forget it and eat," Jason broke the silence, shaking his head. Kim glared harder, threw her napkin down, and pushed away from the table.

"I'm not hungry. Kira, you have the key right?" When Kira murmured a yes, Kim stood up, grabbed her purse, and left without another word.

"What just happened?" Zack asked, as the stupor she's placed on all of them wore off.

"Kim just acted like a teenager, threw a tantrum, and left," Jason responded.

"Um… should we go after her?" Conner hesitated, but asked anyway.

"No; better to let her cool off. I'll check on her later," Trini advised. The older rangers knew she was right. It wasn't a good idea to pursue Kimberly when she was angry.

"She was talking about me, wasn't she?" Tommy suddenly asked.

"I believe so," Billy told him.

"But what did I do?"

"Well, I told you to stop avoiding her," Jason told him resuming his meal. The teens had realized it was safe to eat again and were resuming dinner as well.

"And I did! I sat next to her, and I tried to talk to her. It's not my fault she found everyone else more fascinating," he protested. His friends just shrugged, and dinner was finished in silence. Things slowly retuned to normal, and by the time the checks came, conversation was slowly resuming.

"Jase, I'm gonna go spend the night with Kimberly and Kira; see if I can't get to the bottom of that outburst," Trini whispered to her husband, who nodded and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Sounds like a good idea, Trini," Billy agreed, having overheard them. "Why don't we all spend the night at the hotel?"

"Yeah, Billy could stay with me, Jason with Tommy, and Trini with Kim?" Zack suggested, not knowing what Trini had said.

"Works for me," Tommy agreed and the others nodded.

"Our science teacher is going to have a slumber party?" Conner asked, blinking.

"The world has gone insane," Trent added.

"Shut it, or I'm leaving you two here," Tommy informed them as they walked into the parking lot. Zack paused as they neared the cars. "What's wrong?" Tommy asked over his shoulder.

"I rode here with Kim," Zack said, not really thinking the whole situation through.

"And?" Jason asked him, not seeing the point. He was beginning to wonder if Zack's helmet might have come loose during one of their battles.

"And she left me here! How am I going to get back?"

"Zack, get a grip. There's room in the other cars," Trini told him, hitting him in the back of the head. First Tommy's paternity and now this.

"Oh, right. Oops." Zack laughed. Everyone else just shook their heads.

"Kira, you go back with Tommy and tell Kimberly I'm coming. Oh, and tell her she better not leave," Trini instructed the younger yellow ranger. Kira nodded as the teens got into Tommy's jeep, and Zack went with the other three so they could pack up bags for the night.

Once they shut the doors, Kira, who once again had resumed her position in the front seat, turned on the radio.

"Must you?" Tommy asked as they backed out of the parking lot. "I've got a headache."

"Sorry Dr. O," they all muttered and Kira turned the music down.

"It's alright. I'm sorry you guys had to see that. It's not like Kimberly to act that way," Tommy said, trying to explain more to himself than the teens.

"No big, Dr. O," Kira told him.

"Yeah, it was kind of funny to see someone yell at Jason, anyway. Conner nearly wet himself earlier," Trent laughed.

"I did not," Conner retorted. "And I didn't see you fighting off Zack."

"Enough," Tommy told them. "Seriously guys, what's gotten into you? You never fought this much in Reefside," he asked more than stated, hoping someone would give him a logical answer. Unfortunately both of them just shrugged. Kira and Ethan didn't appear to want to tell him either, so Tommy just let it go. "How about this, you two stop whatever has been going on between you, and I stop asking, plus, no punishment when we get back?"

"Deal," Conner said immediately.

"Alright," Trent through in, and surprisingly, that was the end of it. Anyway, Tommy's focus was on Kimberly and why she had blown up. Yeah, he'd avoided her half the day, but she wouldn't have waited until that moment to say something. It just didn't make any sense to him.

He thought about all the possibilities as he made his way to his room. He could already hear the guys in their own room. Conner and Trent had obviously decided to follow the deal, and were busy trying to figure out the best way to pry Ethan away from his laptop, which the boy had set up on the desk. Luckily the internet in the hotel was free, or Tommy would have already locked the piece of electronic equipment in the safe in his room.

He pulled off his pants and T-shirt and collapsed on the bed to watch some tv, not realizing until that moment how tired he was. He never really noticed that he really didn't have as much stamina as he did when he was a teen. Had he recently been a ranger with Jason and the others, he was sure they'd still be running around like crazy, just like the guys were doing next door. Unfortunately, he wasn't nineteen anymore, and the exercise, sun, and food were taking their toll. He shut his eyes for a moment, and the moment turned into deep sleep, forgetting to lock the connecting door.

* * *

Kira was a bit reluctant to enter the room she'd shared with Kimberly since the night before. She had even considered just sleeping in her day clothes and going back to the room with the guys. The only thing that stopped her was the though of another abstinence talk from Tommy. Firstly, she wasn't ready to do anything anyway. Second, he was her science teacher, for all that he was also like a father to the four of them. Third, he was her friend, and normal friends didn't threaten you about what you did with your boyfriend. Thus, she'd gone to the room, but instead of slipping her key in, she gently knocked. There were footsteps inside, and the door flung open, almost as if she was expecting someone.

Kimberly's eyes looked like she'd been crying not too long before, and her face showed hope, at least until she saw it was Kira. "Oh, hey. I thought you were someone else," she mumbled, stepping aside to let the teenager in. Kira just nodded and didn't press her as to who that someone was. "I thought you had a key?"

"Yeah, but it would have been rude to just enter," Kira told her. "You've been so nice to me, I didn't want to intrude if you wanted to be alone."

Kimberly smiled and hugged the younger woman around the shoulders. "You're a good kid," she told her. "Arg, now I sound old," she laughed. Kira laughed as well, putting her purse on the table.

"Trini says she's spending the night and you're not allowed to leave," Kira informed her, sitting on her bed to take her shoes off. Kimberly had already changed and was wearing a cute pink tank top and a pair of white cotton shorts. Her hair hung loosely down her back.

"Figured as much," Kimberly said, nodding and sitting down on her bed, crossing her legs and sighing. Kira grabbed her own yellow T-shirt and shorts and disappeared into the bathroom. "She'd never let me get away with what happened."

"Really?" Kira called back, enjoying just talking.

"Really. I shouldn't have done that anyway. But I suppose I'll pay the price now," Kimberly said. "So, how'd Jason and the other's react to Trini saying she was coming over to spend the night?"

"Oh," Kira said, stepping out of the bathroom, and throwing her dirty clothes in a white bag, "They're actually all coming. Jason's crashing with Dr. O, and Billy with Zack. Although, is it safe to say there won't be any actual sleeping?"

Kimberly just groaned and flopped down backwards on her bed. "Wonderful. The hotel's going to be upside down before morning," she remarked as someone knocked on the door. "Damn she's fast," Kimberly laughed as Kira went and opened the door to let the Asian woman in. Trini smiled at her and stepped over to where Kimberly lay on the bed, glaring at her. Trini just pouted and dropped her bag at the foot of the bed, and plopped down beside her, as Kira returned to her own bed.

"Aww… poor Kimmie, the big bad Dr. Trini's here to make it all better," Trini giggled, throwing her arms around her best friend. Kimberly hit her with a pillow and continued to glare. "Feel better?"

"Much," Kimberly agreed, sitting up.

"You two are crazy," Kira told them.

"Well, that's what happens when you save the world as a kid. You go insane," Trini told her.

"Actually its worse in yellow rangers; I've known two personally, and from what I've seen of a third, they're all in need of help," Kimberly informed them a grin on her face. "You may be in trouble Kira," she added and they both threw pillows at her.

"Now then, time to figure, out what happened at the restaurant and then we can play with what's in the bag," Trini told them. Kira and Kimberly looked at her, when Trini's eyes fell on Kira. "Well, um… I forgot about Kira. I suppose it'd be alright if she had one, but I'll have to check first," Trini said as Kimberly leaned down and pulled a bottle of Smirnoff out of the bag.

"Trini?" she laughed.

"I took them from Jason and my bar. He won't even know they're missing. But like I said, we'll have to double check that Kira can have one, and I mean only one," she said looking at the teenager who nodded. "Now, Kimberly, no alcohol until we get to the bottom of this."

"Please?"

"No, now talk. What made you so upset?"

"I don't know. I guess he was just ignoring me all day, so I figured I'd ignore him back. But I didn't even think I cared that much," Kimberly told her shrugging.

"That doesn't sound like you though. You would have just ignored him until he broke down and begged you to talk to him, which would have been funny. You wouldn't have exploded like that, or yelled at Jason of all people."

"He's mad at me isn't he?"

"Which?"

"Jason," Kimberly said. She knew Tommy was probably more confused than angry. Either that, or with her luck, he hadn't even noticed. Not that that would be possible.

"He's not mad. He's concerned. We all are," Trini told her. Kimberly gave her a look. "Yes, even Tommy. He still cares about you, no matter what he says. What do you think about what happened, Kira?"

"Me?" Kira looked surprised that they'd directed the conversation to her. She really didn't think she had the right to it. Both women nodded. "Um… well, you acted like I do when Trent's with another girl from school. Doesn't matter what they're doing, just that he even mentions another girl; so maybe it was jealousy?" Kira suggested, hugging a pillow. Both Kimberly and Trini looked at one another. Trini was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and Kim looked horrified.

"She can't be right," Kim groaned. "I can't be jealous. I have no reason to be. I broke up with him ten fuckin years ago. I'm not supposed to get jealous."

"You can if you still have feelings for him," Trini told her. Kimberly gave her a look that suggested that Trini'd taken one too many falls from the cockpit of the megazord.

"I don't have… I don't want to have feelings for him. I don't know if we can even be friends. We've grown up and grown apart. There's so much about him I don't even know."

"That never stopped you before. Kimberly, face it. You're still attracted to him; you'd have to be blind not to be; and maybe you do still have some feelings for him. It doesn't mean you have to run over and marry him right now. Just talk to him about this," Trini told her. "Besides, the jealousy thing; there's got to be hundreds of women who think Tommy's hot. There were plenty in highschool," she added, looking at Kira.

"What? Oh, no way… eww, gross. He's my science teacher," Kira said, laughing a bit. She looked at Kimberly and grinned. "But he did have a fan club at school. There were plenty of girls following him around when he wasn't looking."

"Oh, I can just see it. Like a mother duck and her chicks," Trini said, laughing and falling back on her pillow. Kimberly just shook her head.

"I can't be jealous. Who the hell am I jealous of? Zack? He was talking to Zack….ooh" Kimberly suddenly stopped her rant and looked at Kira.

"Oh what?" Trini asked, as she disappeared into the bathroom to change.

"I suppose I figured out what upset me."

"Ok, so tell," was Trini's response.

"No, its too stupid," Kimberly said, her eyes still on Kira. The younger former ranger stared back at her.

"Ok, slow down. I so do not want anything to do with Dr. O. That's just… eww. We've been over this."

"Not you," Kimberly said, tossing a pillow at the teenager as Trini returned in a white tank and yellow shorts, and plopped back down on the bed beside Kimberly.

"Its that Haley person, isn't it?" Trini asked her, pulling her hair back into a pony tail. Kim just nodded.

"You're jealous of Haley?" Kira asked, surprised. "Kimberly, believe me, there's nothing between Dr. O and Haley. They're like siblings. It'd be like incest," Kira laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Dr. O could never be with Haley. She's more likely to kill him for stepping out of line. She keeps all the guys in order. I promise, you don't need to be jealous of Haley."

"Ok, so I feel like an idiot," Kimberly laughed.

"That's nothing new," Trini said, "Ok, so we start the party now," she added passing Kimberly a bottle. "Kira, go as Tommy if its alright," Trini told her, and Kira smiled and took off down the hall.

* * *

"Do you thin he's alive?" Zack asked, peering around Billy and Jason. The three of them stood in the doorway that connected the teens' room to their teachers. When they'd knocked, there had been no answer, so Zack knocked on the boys room. The teens agreed to let them come in through the joining door.

"Definitely; he's snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Good to see some things never change," Jason responded, pushing the door open wider to let them in. The teens took their places as the older men went to where Tommy had passed out on the bed.

"Billy, get me his shaving cream," Zack said, grinning. The former blue ranger complied and a moment later, Zack was shaking the can quietly.

"What are you going to do?" Ethan asked. The three adults looked like kids in a toy store, grinning and wearing nothing but socks, boxers, and t-shirts.

"Shh… actually, bring the ice bucket over," Jason responded. Trent raised his eyebrows but brought him the bucket.

"You wouldn't," Conner said, meeting Jason's eyes. The first red ranger just nodded. "Oh god, we're going to die."

"You're not going to expire; you're going to laugh," Billy told him. "Alright Zack, you first." Zack put a layer of shaving cream around Tommy's head and then gently created a foam beard over his face. The former ranger stirred slightly, but otherwise didn't move. Zack grinned as he stepped back as Billy indicated to Jason that it was his turn. Conner and Ethan watched, their faces showing their anxiousness. Trent just covered his eyes as Jason pulled on the waist band of Tommy's boxers and dumped the ice bucket's contents into them. The moment the first piece hit, Tommy's eyes flew open and he felt his waist band snap back in place. He catapulted out of the bed, screaming.

"What the fuck! Damn it Jason!" He was dancing around desperately trying to get the ice out of his underwear, while smearing shaving cream everywhere in the process. The other six were all laughing their asses off. Zack had collapsed on the floor with Conner, unable to breath. Jason and Billy were giving one another high fives and imitating their friend, while Trent and Ethan were pointing and snickering, as Tommy's boxers slipped below his waist slightly due to the constant attempt to rid them of frozen water.

"That's what you get when you fall asleep before midnight," Jason responded.

"Affirmative Tommy; We know you're not getting any younger, but really, falling asleep. Shame on you."

"That's no reason to dump a bucket of ice down a guy's shorts," Tommy growled.

"Hey guys, what's going… on...," Kira chose that moment to come up behind Trent, only to see her science teacher covered in shaving cream, his hands down his boxers which had slipped below his backside, doing some type of weird dance. Her eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open.

"Kira…" Tommy whispered, surprised to see her. All the laughing stopped as they looked between the teenage girl, and her teacher.

She snapped out of her shock at his voice and slapped her hands over her eyes, as Trent stepped in front of her. "I- uh- permission… alcohol… Kimberly and Trini?" she managed to explain.

"Uh… yeah, go," Tommy deciphered her question and Kira nodded, taking off running back towards the other women, or at least as far away as possible from that room.

"Well, that was awkward," Billy stated, bluntly.

"Awkward! My girlfriend just saw Dr. O's ass!" Trent shouted.

"Oh god," Tommy stated, finally free of ice. "Trent, I'm…"

"Trent relax, man. It was an accident," Ethan told him. The former white ranger just growled and retreated into his room.

"Wonderful; just what I needed; thanks guys," Tommy told his friends as he went into the bathroom to wash off the shaving cream and change to dry shorts.

"Don't worry Dr. O. He'll get over it and Kira didn't go blind, so its all good," Conner told him, going into the room.

"We'll talk to him. Night guys," Ethan added and followed his teammates. Tommy just nodded as he came back out and looked at the other three.

"What were you thinking?"

"Tommy, relax. It was funny and you know it," Jason told him. Tommy smirked and looked at him.

"We'll see how funny it is when I get revenge."

"Oh, now I'm scared," Jason retorted. Tommy just looked at him through one eye.

"Anyway, didn't Kira mention alcohol?" Zack asked. The others nodded. "Then why are we still here?"

"I don't think Kira wants to see me right now, Zack."

"Nonsense, I bet she's done throwing up and she's over it by now."

"I hate you," Tommy muttered, throwing a pillow at him.

"And we hate you too," Billy told him, "But lets go see what the girls are up to anyway."

"Fine by me, but your shirt stays on," Jason told him, glaring at him, as they all left the room.

* * *

Ok, so that's the last update until I get out of school. My last day is a week from Friday, so chapter 7 will probably appear some time around then. I hope everyone enjoyed.  
Fateless Wanderer 


	7. Spinning Completely Out of Control

Sorry this took so long to post. I was busy with finals and stuff. But I'm home for the summer now and ready to start cranking out the chapters once again. So yeah, hope you enjoy.

* * *

Kira ran into the room she shared with Kim and pressed her back against the door, panting. She slid down until she was seated on the floor, and then pressed the heals of her hands against her eyes, willing the images away. When she'd entered so abruptly, the two women who were on the bed immediately stopped their conversation and looked at her.

"Kira?" Kimberly asked, slightly confused.

"It burns," was the only response the teenager could give.

"What burns?" Trini laughed, as she pushed herself off the bed and went to help the girl off the floor. She grabbed Kira's wrists and pulled her to her feet.

"Images. Horrifying images."

"Right… so, you get permission?" Trini asked, putting her arm over the teenagers shoulder and guided the pale teenager over to her bed. Kira just nodded. "Good; here," Trini said, as she passed the girl a bottle.

"Just one, and you don't tell the guys" Kimberly reminded her, smiling at the girl. "So, we were discussing your teammates. They're quite an interesting group."

"That would be putting it mildly," Kira responded, letting conversation and the alcohol push the memories of the last few minutes to the back of her mind. "We're not exactly a group that would hang around together normally."

"Neither were we," Trini pointed out.

"But you were more accepting and much more into community service and stuff. We, well, we weren't exactly your model teenagers; still aren't," Kira said and paused for a moment. After a few seconds, she added "Nope, definitely not your perfect…" She was cut off by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Kim called towards the knock.

"It's the boogie man; who do you think it is?" was the returning voice. Kimberly frowned, wondering what he wanted, but got up to answer the door anyway. She opened the door, and walked back letting Zack and the other's follow.

"Hi, were you guys expecting anyone else?" Zack stated cheerfully, innocently, falling into a chair.

"What are you guys doing here?" Trini asked, glaring.

"Kira mentioned alcohol so I figured it came from our bar, and thus, we can have some," Jason explained jumping on the bed behind Trini and pulling her into his arms. They fell backwards onto the mattress, causing Kimberly, who also occupied the bed, to bounce up a bit. She glared at them.

"And what makes you think we'd share?" she asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, considering how extensive and sturdy our camaraderie has been, and the verity that you've always revealed immense affection for us, we assumed you'd be inclined to provide us with some variety of entertainment since we're rather bored," Billy told her, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Jason kicked him off and he landed on the floor, as Trini hit her husband in the head.

"What he said," Tommy confirmed, not quite following Billy's speech. It was late, he was embarrassed, and he'd recently had ice in his shorts. No one could expect him to be able to follow Billy speak; English was hard enough at the moment.

His eyes fell on Kira who'd finished a quarter of her bottle but was now staring at him, white faced. He blushed, and sat as far from her as possible as Trini handed the four of them drinks (after prying herself from Jason's hold). Kira suddenly put her drink down.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she said, launching herself off the bed and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Kimberly and Trini stared after her, confused.

"Was it the alcohol?" Kimberly asked. The guys (save Tommy) burst into a fit of laughter.

"There really isn't anything funny about that," Trini scolded them.

"There is when it isn't the alcohol that's bothering her," Jason told his wife, while struggling to overcome the laughter that racked his body every time he looked at the man on the other side of the room.

"What are you talking about?" Kimberly asked, while gently knocking on the bathroom door. She was rather concerned. Maybe giving the teen a drink had been a bad idea.

"Well, lets just say that Kira saw a full moon tonight," Zack managed to say, looking over at Tommy who was cradling his head in his hands and looking extremely distressed. Zack just resumed laughing.

"What? What happened?" Trini asked, curious, confused, and alarmed at the same time. When no one answered, she hit Jason, hard. He frowned, and rubbed his leg, but only looked at Tommy and a smirk resumed on his face. Trini had her hand raised at Billy, but he put up his arms to block her attack.

"Ok, ok; Tommy fell asleep, Zack covered him in shaving cream, and Jason dumped ice down his shorts and he did a very interesting interpretive dance," Billy explained. Both women looked at Tommy, who was trying not to scream, and then back at Billy before breaking down into laughter.

"Oh yes, its lets all torment and then laugh at Tommy day," Tommy growled, which only served to fuel the fire more.

"During Tommy's dance, his boxers slipped, and Kira got a good look at her science teacher's ass," Jason finished, as the others had nearly collapsed laughing again.

"Oh my god, poor Kira," Kimberly managed to say through her giggles.

"Poor Kira?" Tommy squealed. "What about me?"

"Tommy, you should have known better. First of all, sleep before midnight just doesn't work," Trini stated.

"And second, with Jason and Zack around, you should have locked the door," Kimberly finished. She listened at the bathroom door for a moment, and hearing nothing, opened it, to find Kira sitting against the bathtub. "You ok, Kira?"

"The horror!"

"I know. Believe me, I know," she told the girl, pulling her to her feet.

"HEY!" Tommy protested, causing everyone to fall over laughing once again. "This trip was a bad idea. A very bad idea."

"Aww, its not that bad," Zack told him.

"Umm… so far nothing's happened to you," Tommy pointed out to him, glaring as Kimberly finally persuaded Kira not to hide in the bathroom anymore. "Kira, I…"

"Don't say anything. It never happened. NEVER!"

"Right," Tommy agreed, taking a sip of his drink.

"So, what kind of girl talk did we get to interrupt?" Zack asked, leaning forward on his elbows. He was grinning and shooting random looks at Tommy who seriously though he might murder the other man.

"Well, we were discussing all the hot guys we know," Trini lied, laughing a bit.

"Oh really, well, who was at the top of that list?" Jason asked her, tightening his grip around his wife's waist.

Kimberly and Trini looked at one another and grinned. "Billy," they both stated at the same time, laughing hysterically. Jason and Tommy both spit out their drinks and began coughing like crazy, while Billy was blushing bright red, and Zack resumed laughing.

"You two ok?" Kira asked quietly.

"He's dead," Jason responded, to no one in general. He released Trini and sprung off the bed.

"Beyond dead," Tommy agreed, forgetting that he shouldn't have anything to beat the shit out of Billy for, and he too stood up. Billy, sensing he was in trouble, jumped to his feet, and bolted for the door, the two other men directly behind him. All three disappeared loudly into the hall.

"What just happened?" Kira asked.

"Well, my husband decided Billy was a threat, and quite interestingly so did Tommy. I wonder what that could mean?" Trini said grinning at looking at Kimberly. They could hear screaming in the hallway. And they kind of hoped Tommy and Jason weren't really going to hurt the other guy.

"What? No! He's just trying to help Jason," she protested her friend's accusation.

"And now Kimberly's in denial," Zack added, as a pillow sailed across the room and hit him in the head. "Hey," he glared at his friend who was smiling innocently back at him.

"Uh, a little help here?" Billy asked as he sped into the room, Jason and Tommy directly behind him. The former blue ranger dove behind Kim and Trini on the bed, placing them between the two very determined ex-ranger leaders.

"No way man, you're on your own," Zack told him, and Billy glared back. "What? I don't want them to try and kick my ass too. I'm not stupid."

"Gee thanks," Billy said, peeking out from behind Trini. "Come on guys, it's not my fault. Jason, you wouldn't want to kill me, we've been through."

"It hasn't been that much. And you left us for an alien."

"Tommy, come on, you can't kill me in front of Kira; she's your student."

"Kira, would you mind checking on the guys for me?"

"Really guys, this isn't funny anymore," Bill protested, shrinking back farther on the bed, as the two men closed in on him. Trini and Kimberly looked like they were going to fall over laughing, and the only thing that stopped Zack was the prospect that they might turn on him next.

"It wasn't supposed to be, was it, Tommy?"

"Nope," Tommy agreed with Jason as they both made to lunge around the girls, who both anticipated their moves and brought them down with two swift round house kicks. "Hey, that hurt," Tommy protested, pouting up at Kimberly who was grinning at him.

"Well, next time don't forget I can fight too," she told him, offering her hand to pull him to his feet. Jason was rubbing the newest bruise on his body, and pouting at Trini who was just ignoring him. Zack had given up and he and Kira were laughing hysterically. Tommy took her hand but instead of standing he just pulled her down on top of him. She stared at him and blinked for a couple of seconds, before realizing she was sitting on his lap, one had on his ankle, the other behind his back. Suddenly she blushed, and so did he. He'd been too caught up in the moment to realize what he'd just done.

"Forgiven for earlier?" she whispered, not really aware that every one else had stopped what they were doing to watch.

"Of course," he responded, "um… could I have my legs back?"

"Right, sorry," she said, standing up and retreating to one corner of the room.

"Ok, so no more trying to kill Billy?" Trini asked, sensing that the moment was about to get really, really awkward.

"No more trying to kill Billy," Jason repeated.

"Good boy," Trini told him. "And you?" she asked Tommy who was at that moment in a glaring contest with Zack, who happened to mention that this was strike two.

"Me what?" Tommy said, taking his eyes off Zack and frowning at her. He hadn't been listening to her, as he was too busy debating how to get rid of Zack once and for all.

"Oh, never mind," she said, collapsing into Jason's arms. "I'm getting tired."

"Well, we should go to bed then," Jason told her, grinning. She hit him in the head with a pillow. "I meant all of us," he protested, only to be hit in the head by both Kimberly and Trini. Tommy, Billy, Zack, and Kira just looked at him.

"Um… Jase, bro, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing," Tommy told him. Zack and Billy were grinning.

"Yeah, I mean, we could find you a support group or something if you'd like," Zack told him.

"We just don't think we'd like to participate," Billy finished as Jason kissed his wife, and jumped up after them. The three of them ran from the room, Jason on their heals.

"You promised not to kill Billy!" Trini called after him; she didn't exactly mind if he killed the other two; as Kimberly got up and shut the door completely, locking it, just in case their friends got any bright ideas during the night.

"And I thought my friends were interesting," Kira told her as she came back. Trini and Kimberly just burst out laughing, and the three of them got ready for bed.

* * *

Trent had retreated to the room he shared with the other two teenage guys, still fuming from what had happened. How could they not care? Granted it was hysterical; and maybe, yeah, it was an accident; but still, Kira had seen Dr. O ass. She hadn't seen his ass yet. She hadn't done anything with him yet, and the first male body part she'd seen that wasn't normally exposed was their science teacher's ass. Could it get any creepier?

"Trent? You ok dude?" Conner asked as he and Ethan entered the room, shutting the door and locking it behind them. Trent just growled.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad. It was actually very funny."

"It was funny until Kira arrived," Trent corrected as both his teammates sat on their respective beds.

"Nah, it was funny even after that. I knew Dr. O was a red ranger, but have you noticed that he's been blushing almost constantly since we got here," Ethan replied, laying back on his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

"You have a point," Trent agreed.

"And you've got nothing to be jealous over. Kira was horrified, not pleased. I'm sure she went back to Kimberly and Trini and is still throwing up as we speak," Conner told him as they heard the four adults leave the room next door to them. "Wonder where they're going," he remarked, softly, turning on the tv, which Tommy had requested have all the adult content blocked.

"Conner's right. Kira is probably so mortified she'll never mention that ever again. And we got to see Dr. O go through the ultimate torture. Overall, it's a been a good day."

"Easy for you to say, you're not bruised."

"Or embarrassed."

"Or scared that Dr. O might kill you with floss in your sleep," Conner added.

"Floss?" Trent asked him, raising an eyebrow. Conner nodded.

"I've been envisioning all the painful ways I might die at his hands… I think floss would be the worst."

"Right," Ethan said, sitting up and grabbing the remote from Conner. "I'm bored. Trent's no longer fuming, and Conner seems to have way to much time on his hands. What do you say we go somewhere?"

"And where do you propose we go?" Trent asked him, sitting up and folding his arms across his chest. Sure he needed something to do, but really, you'd think that they'd had had enough adventure for one day. Not to mention if they were caught sneaking off anywhere, they'd be in worse trouble than they already were.

"I don't know. Just around the hotel a bit. See if there's anything to do," Ethan responded, still dead set on leaving the room.

"Right, because watching an ice machine would be so much more fun than sitting here watching each other," Trent retorted.

"What do you say Conner?" Ethan asked his friend who was on his knees looking under the bed.

"I can't find my shoes," he responded, and Ethan assumed that meant he was in. "Got them. So, where are we going?"

"Fine we'll go, but if we get caught this is all on your head Ethan. Conner and I are in enough trouble as it is."

"Its not my fault you two decided to kill one another where all the adults could see you. That was just stupid. Next time find a dark corner," Ethan remarked, putting on his own shoes and grabbing the room key, some money, and his cell phone. He stuffed it all in his pockets as Conner and Trent did the same and then moved to open the door.

Quietly, they slipped out into the hall, checked to make sure the coast was clear, and tiptoed to the elevators. They weren't exactly sure where their teacher had disappeared to, but better to be safe than sorry. It seemed like the elevator took forever to reach them. Just as the doors open, they heard a door down the hall go flying open. Their eyes went wide, and Trent shoved the other two into the empty elevator, began rapidly pressing the door close button as a series of footsteps running approached them. Through the last inch of open space, the three teens saw Billy run by, pleading with two people, who were following him, not to kill him. They managed to catch a glimpse of white and red chasing after the blue streak.

"What was that?" Conner said, wide eyed.

"Umm… I think that was our dignified science teacher chasing a guy down the hallway," Ethan told him.

"Ok, just checking," Conner replied.

"Have we entered the twilight zone?" Trent asked, and the other two just shrugged.

The elevator reached the bottom level and released the very confused teens into the lobby. Some people stared, as it wasn't an every day sight to see three young men standing in the middle of the hotel lobby in nothing but pairs of sweat pants, t-shirts; and slippers in Conner's case; he'd been unsuccessful in finding his shoes.

Ignoring the looks they were getting, the three made their way out to the pool where they had been the day before. Not to swim, as they were obviously not dressed for such an occasion, but perhaps they could find something to do. Its not like they'd been invited to whatever wild party their teacher was throwing upstairs in the hotel. Granted, they didn't know if they wanted to be involved with chasing Billy down the hall to kill him with no apparent reason.

They actually ended up lucky. Obviously, they weren't the only teenagers in the hotel who'd gotten bored. They were just the only ones that didn't know about the party down in at the pool until one o'clock in the morning.

"Where were we when this was announced?" Ethan asked the other two. Both shrugged as they waded into the stream of endless teenagers. Conner spotted a food table and made a bee line for it, promising to meet up with the two of them in an hour. Ethan eventually went to find out about the DJ and maybe do some dancing. Unfortunately, this left Trent, who stood, slightly off to the side, feeling very awkward, and wishing he had the nerve to go find Kira who was probably off with the women.

He eased himself onto a lounge chair and decided just to relax and listen to the music. He didn't think he was sticking out to much, but he realized he'd made a mistake when he saw three young women, maybe a year younger than he was heading for his chair. He'd only been sitting there fifteen minutes. First rule of parties, if you want to be alone, don't make it look like you're alone. He wanted to kick himself, as the girls reached him.

"Hey there," the blonde one said, sweetly. Apparently she was more assertive than her friends as they hung back a bit, but she sat directly on the edge of the chair. Trent shifted a bit farther away from her, uncomfortably.

"Hi," he croaked out.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself? You should come dance with us," she told him. The brunette and the red head behind her giggled and nodded in agreement. Trent rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I'm perfectly content right here, and I've got a girlfriend, so," he began.

"Well, is she here?" the red head asked him. Trent looked at her and then shook his head.

"So, we won't tell, come on, dance with us," the blonde one was pulling on his arm.

"I said no," Trent responded, but she wouldn't relent. Instead she kept pulling on his arm, begging please. It seemed as if the word 'no' wasn't part of her known vocabulary. He made a mental note to get her a dictionary; maybe expand her vocabulary by a few words. He was on the verge of a break down. Normally, when it came to girls, Trent was as much a gentleman as he could be, but these three were really trying his patience, and he had a few choice words that he was ready to say.

Fortunately, help can come from the oddest places. Suddenly, a small black woman, who looked a bit older than he was, was standing between him and the annoying blonde from hell. She slapped the girl's hand away, and glared at her with her hands on her hips.

"Listen you, keep your claws off my boyfriend!" she yelled at the girls. They all looked at her stunned silence. "Go on, get out of here," she urged fiercely when they didn't leave. They were glaring at her.

"I thought you said she wasn't around," the brunette told him. Trent just stood there, silent.

"I said go," the black woman told them. The girls glared, and the blonde one clenched her fists, but they disappeared back into the crowd. Probably off to harass more people.

"Uh… thanks," Trent said when the woman turned around to face him. She still had a pissed off look on her face, but when she looked at him, she sighed and smiled.

"You're welcome," she said, nodding towards him. "People like that just make me so angry. A friend of mine had a guy who wouldn't even let her breath when we were in high school," the woman told him.

"Right," Trent agreed, nodding, and still kind of stunned. The woman smiled once more.

"I've got to get back. You know how jealous fiancés can be. But you should go find your girlfriend, kid," she said, patting him on the shoulder and disappearing back up onto the patio where she followed two men into the lobby of the hotel. The taller of the two handed her one of the martinis he'd been carrying.

"Kid?" he asked himself. He was sure she couldn't have been more than a year or two older than he was; but she had said fiancé and she was sitting at the bar with two men, sipping a martini. He shook his head and glanced at his watch. Still a half hour before he was supposed to meet up with Conner and Ethan, but perhaps he should try and find them, and just tell them he was going to bail out early. He didn't want or need any more encounters with those girls.

Finding his friends however, was easier said than done. Conner seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, and Ethan had likewise followed. He scanned the crowds on the pool deck, positive that there had never been that many teenagers in a single hotel before, and yet he still couldn't locate his red or blue friends. He'd checked the dance area, the food tables, the DJ's table, and he'd even walked behind some bushes and interrupted a make out session and still no Conner or Ethan. One place left to check was the bathroom. Last time he checked it was girls who went to the rest room together, but he never knew what Conner and Ethan were going to do.

He made his way over to the men's room beside the pool and was about to open the door when he noticed the maintenance closet was slightly cracked and their were voices coming from inside. Curiosity got the better of him and he pushed the door open further. The creaking of the door got the attention of the four people inside. Two he recognized immediately as his missing teammates. The other two took a moment to register. He'd seen the bigger one before, but never the smaller one. They were definitely older than he was.

"Get him out of here," the smaller man hissed.

"Nah, its just Trent, its cool," Ethan said, motioning for Trent to come him.

"Well, shut the door then," the larger of the two commanded. Trent did so, as he approached the group who sat in the middle of a very odd assortment of products. He frowned, trying to place the man. Slowly he realized this was the man that had driven away in that ridiculous golf cart earlier. Tommy had said his name was Bulk. So the thinner man must have been Skull.

"What's going on?" Trent asked Conner and Ethan suspiciously, knowing that his teacher and the other former rangers wouldn't be too thrilled that they were hanging out with the two people who wanted to unmask them.

"Oh, Bulk and Skull were telling us about their plan to unmask the power rangers," Conner retorted. "Figured we could maybe lend a hand."

Trent fought to keep his face still. "Um…. right," he paused, and looked at both of his teammates. "Anyway, its getting late and we should probably get going. We have to be up early remember?" he told the two of them. Really, he just wanted to get them away from the insanity. Did they both fall and hit their heads or something and forget that they two were power rangers?  
"Oh, alright. See you guys later," Ethan said, waving to Bulk and Skull. He noticed the look in Trent's eyes and remembered evil white ranger days, and immediately grabbed Conner's T-shirt, practically dragging him.

The two older men nodded understanding and waved goodbye as the three teens left the room, Trent speeding as far away from it as he possibly could. The whole idea filled him with dread. Once they were far enough from any form of life, he turned on his heel and glared at them.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Hey, relax, we actually have a good explanation," Conner told him calmly, keeping their voices down. Trent glared at him, but crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for an explanation. "If we can find out what Bulk and Skull know, and what they're going to do, maybe we can stop them."

Trent took a deep breath. "I don't know. It could work, but at the same time, its probably not a good idea. You'd be compromising our cover, not to mention Dr. O's and the other's. If they found out, they'd kill you."

"They won't find out, and we won't get caught," Conner assured him.

"You'd better not. Come on, we're pressing our luck the longer we stay out here. If Dr. O catches us out of bed…"

"If Dr. O catches you, what?" a voice said behind them. All three froze and turned, wishing the were hearing things, and came face to face with their science teacher, clad in only a pair of boxers and a T-shirt holding a beer in one hand. He was flanked by Jason and Zack dressed similarly. Billy, they noted, was no where to be seen.

"Hey Dr. O," Ethan laughed, running his hand over his face. "How long you been standing there."

"Just long enough to know that you're out of your room. What are you doing out here, and why do I think I don't want to know?"

"We were at a party," Conner told him and then immediately regretted it. "I swear we didn't do anything. There was no drinking, no misbehaving. They had free food!"

"Relax Conner," Jason told the boy who was on the verge of using every defense possible.

Tommy nodded. "I'm too tired to deal with you three right now. Just go to bed," he informed them.

"Yes sir," Ethan called as the three of them ran off to do what they were told.

"And don't call me sir!" Tommy called after them, shaking his head. "Come on. We've still got to find Billy."

"I can't believe this," Jason said.

"Well, if was either him or us," Zack told him, as the three of them continued down the hall searching for their friend.

It hadn't taken Jason all that long to catch up to his three friends who went racing down the hall. Unfortunately for all of them though, they had chosen to run into the employee laundry room and come face to face with one very angry, and very large cleaning lady. He was sure she was one of those women who you saw on TV that were named Helga who could only grunt and follow orders. And he swore she had the characteristic uni-brow. The moment he slammed into Tommy's back, he knew they were in trouble.

Everything suddenly felt like it was moving really, really fast. He remember Zack trying to smooth things over; the woman ignoring them and chastising the four of them as if they were little children, and then there was the broom.

Jason gave a mental shudder as he remembered the broom. Helga, or what ever her real name was, had swiftly grabbed the broom in the corner and began beating them over the head with it. One minute Tommy was beside him in their retreat backwards out of the laundry room, and the next minute, his friend was on the ground, wincing in pain. Zack had turned his back on her and was attempting to run forward, but managed to trip over Tommy and land soundly on his stomach, causing much pain and more chaos. Jason himself managed to back out of the laundry room, only to slam into the chest of Helga's twin. She screamed when he spun around, accidentally grabbing the only thing in front of him to keep his balance, which unfortunately happened to be her large bosom. He found himself with a black eye, and what he figured would result in a concussion.

The only thing that saved them from further humiliation, and maybe death, was Billy's quick talking. Somehow, he managed to calm both women down long enough for Jason, Tommy, and Zack to disappear. That had been almost an a half hour ago, and they head seen or heard from Billy since. While checking for him at the bar, they'd managed to grab drinks, mainly because Zack insisted that he'd rather use alcohol to make his headache go away than go all the way back to one of their rooms and get some aspirin. Besides, they might miss Billy if they did.

"Where could they have taken him?" Zack demanded when another round of the hotel proved the theory that their friend had been abducted by aliens, this time against his will.

"Maybe he went back to Aquitar," Jason suggested, shrugging.

Tommy just looked at him. "Not even if you wished really, really hard," he laughed, knowing just how Jason felt, although not really wanting to admit it or even fully understanding it.

They continued their rounds until they reached the one door none of them wanted to go into. In dark letters the words EMPLOYEES ONLY were like a warning. They really didn't want to run into any more Helgas that night. Finding the teens out and about had already annoyed Tommy more than he wanted to be for one day.

"We've got no choice," he told the other two, peering around. Both of them nodded and they slipped behind the heavy door, which closed silently behind them. Tommy lead the two other former rangers down the cold steps into a basement type setting, glancing around. They passed rows and rows of doors, all of which were locked. At the end of the hall was a room marked 'Maids lounge' and the three men could hear distinct giggling coming from behind it. Zack bent down and looked in through the key hole.

"Oh my god. You're not going to believe this," Zack whispered, obvious amusement in his voice. Jason and Tommy frowned at him, until Jason pushed him aside and looked in, nearly falling over laughing.

"What? What is it?" Tommy asked him. Zack and Jason were now trying to keep from busting out laughing, and thus alerting the people inside to their presence. Jason just shook his head and moved aside to let Tommy see.

The scene in the room would have made wonderful black mail, had they actually brought a camera. Billy was sitting on a chair, topless, a look of pure horror on his face. From the looks of it, his hands were tied behind the back of the chair. The two women were taking turns feeding him grapes or running their hands along his pecks. Tommy was trying his hardest not to laugh at the other man's predicament, but, like his two friends was failing not to see the humor in the situation.

"We have to help him," Tommy managed to get out without bursting into laughter. Jason, who's body was shaking with silent amusement just shook his head.

"No way Bro; this is pay back."

"Jase, he doesn't deserve this," Zack told the man in red, despite the fact that seeing the former blue ranger in such a predicament was the most entertaining thing that had happened, even topping the ice down Tommy's pants.

"Fine. But there's no way to help him. If we go in there, those women are going to kill us," Jason whispered. Tommy shook his head.

"I have an idea. But I'm going to need both of your help."

* * *

Lesson learned. Never ever help your friends if you have the ability to get away. They'll run and leave you to deal with the sharks; not that he wouldn't have done the same in their place. In fact, he would rather have been facing Goldar and a group of putties wearing nothing but his birthday suit then what he was facing at the moment.

The moment the two maids had stopped trying to understand him, they'd realized that the other three "trouble makers" had disappeared. They'd also discovered that Billy had a very nice body. Actually, they'd noticed that all four of the men did, but had been unable to do anything about it.  
Unfortunately, their lack of ability to speak English proved to be his greatest disadvantage. He was speaking softly like you would to a wild animal when you wanted to slip away without getting eaten, and using his hands to gently convey that they were sorry. This had convinced the women that he was actually attracted to them. Somehow he managed to find himself following them back to the lounge for what he thought was supposed to be tea, and it really had started out as out that way. It was the way it ended that he didn't like.  
He'd spilled the hot tea all over his shirt when one of the maids gently touched his knee, greatly surprising him. They'd then insisted that he remove his shirt and let them wash it. And that's when things got way out of control. Despite his protests, the maids managed to yank Billy's shirt over his head, and then when he'd tried to run, they'd tied him to the chair. They seemed to think it was all a game, and Billy was playing hard to get. Now he was regretting ever saving his three friends, if he could still call them that.  
Suddenly the were two muffled shouts in the hall way, and the door burst open, startling Billy and the two maids so badly that the woman jumped backward, and Billy began to choke on his grape, as he stared into the masked faces of the Red and Black rangers, his eyes wide open in shock.

"Um… excuse me, but um… we've come to um…" the black ranger stuttered and looked at his partner, who shrugged. Obviously neither had actually decided why they were there. The women, who didn't speak English, muttered something and Billy swore he heard the words 'power rangers' before they both ran towards the two, and began planting kisses on their helmets, knocking both against the wall. The red ranger was trying to pry the woman off him, when his partner grabbed his arm and pulled him out from under her. They both sprinted out of the room and down the hall, both women behind them.

Billy sat stunned for several seconds, unsure what exactly had just occurred when Tommy slipped into the room.

"Tommy- what was that?"

"No time. They can't stay morphed forever, and we've got to get you out of here," Tommy told his friend as he began to untie the ropes. As soon as Billy was free they ran out of the room, down the hall, and back into the hotel.

"And how are we going to explain two Power Rangers running around and suddenly appearing at our rooms?" Billy demanded as they slipped into the lobby.

"They're not coming to our rooms. They're going to lead those two on a wild goose chase, hopefully staying out of sight, and then de-morph. Jason's going to call me on my cell when its safe." Tommy told him, as his cell phone rang. Billy raised his eyebrows and looked at him as Tommy shrugged and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Lost them… no one saw… be back soon… have water ready," Jason panted into the phone and then hung up. Tommy smiled and closed the phone.

"So?"

"Everything went well. They'll be back soon, but they're both dead tired. Jason was panting. He must be out of shape or something," Tommy explained looking quite satisfied with himself and amused as they got into the elevator to take back to his room.

"In that case: WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU GUYS SO LONG?"

"Sorry, couldn't find you. Jason thought you'd gone back to Aquitar," Tommy replied, with a bit of a laugh. "Besides, we came for you eventually."

"You all suck, you know that. Plain and simple," Billy remarked, following Tommy into the room, and closing the door behind them. It had been one very, very long day.

* * *

Ok, so I hope you all enjoyed that as much as I did. I get to be on summer break now, so hopefully there won't be another long break in updating. Thanks to everyone who waited so patiently.  
Fatelesswanderer 


	8. Misplaced Agression

Summer vacation means more time to update. It also means the more I update this, the more my friends are going to pester me to update the other stories that they actually read. So if there's a large break in updates, someone should send me a message yelling at me to update. Anyway, onto chapter 8.

* * *

Morning came and with it came exhaustion and irritation. Once again, the seven guys found themselves in the lobby waiting on the women to arrive. Trent was glaring at Conner and Ethan, Conner was glaring at Trent, and Ethan seemed oblivious. Fortunately, their childish behavior went unnoticed by the four adults who sat at another table off to the side. Jason was glaring at Tommy and Billy, Zack was glaring at Tommy, Tommy was glaring at Billy, and Billy was glaring at them all. All seven ate their cold cereal breakfast in silence, each secretly wishing they could murder one of the others, well, except Ethan, who seemed to just think everyone was having a contest to see who could be the quietest the longest. He did consider that it would be like third grade behavior, but with everything that had happened, it wasn't entirely unlikely.

All seven looked up each and every time the elevator opened, hoping it would be the women and they could get going to where ever it was that they would be going, maybe release some of the tension that had built up. After the elevator doors had opened at least twenty times, three women walked out, each wearing clothes that would be comfortable and flexible. They quickly noticed the quiet feeling to the area where the guys were.

Kira slipped into a chair beside Trent, and kissed his cheek lightly, hoping to draw his graze of death off their teammates. All she got was a mumbled good morning, and she frowned, and went to grab a donut. Kimberly slipped into a chair at the head of the other table, between Tommy and Billy. She looked from one to the other, and then stole the uneaten muffin off Tommy's plate.

"Ok, so good morning Kim; how did you sleep? I slept fine, how about you Kimberly, did you sleep alright after your friends left trying to kill one another? Yes, I slept well, thank you. Would you mind passing the toast?" Tommy just looked at her, and gave a small apology, before passing her a plate of toast. "Thank you," she added, glad to see he could at least process the information. Billy on the other hand didn't even move. She waved her hand in front of his face, and all he did was blink, and deepen his glare. "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Nothing," Zack responded. Trini had yet to sit between Jason and Zack. Instead, she had her arms wrapped over her husband's shoulders.

"Come on baby, what's wrong?" she was cooing into his ear. Jason just sort of shrugged her off. She pouted and plopped down into the chair. "Well, if you're all going to act like toddlers today, I suppose you could stay here," she told them and Kimberly nodded.

"With these three. I've got no idea what got into them," Kira told the other two women, indicating her own teammates.

"Hey, I don't know what's going on either," Ethan protested, drawing everyone's attention.

"Sure you don't," Trent growled.

"Leave him out of this Trent. It's between you and me," Conner hissed. Kira threw her hands up into the ceiling as silence resumed.

Suddenly two young women walked into the breakfast area. Trent ducked down a bit lower in his seat as they glared at him, recognizing him from the night before. The blonde just glared, but the red head let her eyes fall on Kira. "Careful around him sweetie, he's got one fierce bitch of a girlfriend," she said, and Kira was about to jump to her feet, but Conner jumped up and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her back into the chair.

"Forget him," the blonde one told her friend. "Did you hear about what happened last night while they were cleaning up the party? They said the black and red power rangers ran through the lobby and out the door. Probably a hoax though."

Kira looked at Conner who shrugged. She shook her head. It couldn't have been Conner. Their powers were gone. She and the other teens turned to look at the table where Kimberly and Trini were glaring at the four men who all wore blushes on their faces, glares gone.

"Oh, you had better hope it's a hoax, Mr. Scott," Trini hissed.

"Trini, calm down. It was for a good cause," Jason protested, keeping his voice low. The teens drew their chairs over, desperately wanting to hear this explanation.

"Yeah, we did it to save Billy," Zack insisted. Trini hit him with her purse. "And it was Tommy's idea," he added. Kimberly glared at her ex-boyfriend and hit him with her purse.

"Owww… nothing went wrong."

"They were seen," Kimberly insisted. "What were you thinking? There was already a rumor that some of us were staying at the hotel!"

"Kimberly, you forget, when it comes to thinking, they're not the best at it," Trini told her friend, still glaring at her husband and Zack. "You two! Arg, I don't know who I want to kill more."

"Really, we needed to save Billy," Jason repeated.

"Oh really? Was there a monster running around down town with a big batch of putties? Or maybe it grew to the size of a building? Did you call in the zords too, oh might red ranger? Am I going to go outside and see half of down town Angel Grove destroyed?" Trini hissed. Jason just looked sheepish.

"No."

"Well then, what was so horrible that it took two power rangers to save Billy? Did you accidentally chase him up a tree and he couldn't get down? Cause you know, they have the fire department to do that," Kimberly told them.

"It was two Swedish giantesses," Tommy mumbled.

"What?" Kimberly said, not believing a word.

"It's true; they were sexually harassing Billy," Zack threw in. Kimberly, Trini, and the teens all turned to look at the blue ranger who was shrinking in his chair, blushing the color of Jason's ranger suit.

"I lost my favorite shirt in the process," was the only thing he was able to mumble.

"You're serious? Billy was really being sexually attacked by two large Swedish women?" Kira asked the three of them.

"It was a weird night," Tommy responded. "They beat us with brooms first."

"I don't think I want to know anymore," Conner told the others.

"Neither do I," Kimberly said. "Just don't something so stupid again," she yelled at them, hitting all four once more and grabbing her purse. "Lets go," she ordered, and Trini and Kira nodded. The four older guys immediately followed the order, and the three others knew it was probably wise to follow.

"Where are we going?" Conner asked from the back of the parade that filtered into the parking lot.

"Someplace where we can let you all beat the shit out of each other," Trini responded, still angry. Jason walked at least several feet behind her, afraid of what she might do to him. "And you'd better do some thinking, Mr. Scott, if you want to remain my_ living_ husband," she hissed knowing he'd been about to say something. The first red ranger immediately shut up and Zack mumbled something that sounded distinctly like "whipped".

"Mr. Taylor, I still have mine too and I won't hesitate to use them on you," Trini told him, knowing he'd know she meant her powers and she'd use her blade blaster on him. Billy and Tommy consequently remained silent.

"Ok, so who's riding with who?" Kimberly asked when they got to the cars. Trini frowned and thought for a moment.

"I'll take Jason, Zack, Billy, and Kira in my car, and you can take Tommy's car keys and drive him and the boys."

"I'm capable of driving myself thank you," Tommy retorted. Kimberly just glared at him. "Or you could drive, that's fine too," he added, handing her the car keys. She took them and proceeded to the car.

"Actually Trini, let Ethan go with you, I need to talk to Trent," Kira told her new friend who nodded, and Trent seemed to be trying to sink into the ground.

"I-I'm sorry, I can explain," he stammered.

"In the car," she growled, grabbing his arm and tossing him into the car beside Conner who snickered. Both Tommy and Trent shot looks at him which immediately shut the boy up. "So, explain. Who were those women?"

"I-um… we were bored, so we went down to the pool and there was a party going on. Conner ran off to get food, and Ethan went to harass the DJ and dance, so I was by myself, and I sat on those chairs by the pool and was just listening to the music, and thinking that I should go get you cause you'd really enjoy it," Trent explained. Kira gave him a disbelieving look. "I swear, its true. In any case, those girls showed up and began pulling on me and trying to get me to dance. I told them I had a girlfriend, but since you weren't around they didn't get it, and kept pulling. Next thing I know this black woman shows up, pretending to be my girlfriend and scared them off. I didn't know what to do, and the next thing I know she says something about a fiancé and wanders off to go drink martinis with two men." Trent told her. Kira just blinked for a second then reached around Trent and slapped Conner upside the head.

"Hey! What did I do?"

"You left my boyfriend alone! It's your fault they though he was single."

"What'd you want me to do? Pretend I was his date?" Conner retorted and then, seeing Kira's face, turned green. "On second though, please don't answer that. Listen, everything worked out. Ethan and I made some new friends, and Trent got his butt saved from evil boyfriend stealing bitches, so everything's good."

"Conner's right Kira. I swear, nothing happened," Trent added, venturing to place his arms around her.

"I guess," she agreed, snuggling into Trent's hold. "Just don't go off alone again. Bad things seem to happen."

"Speaking of bad things," Kimberly said with an amused voice, which was still slightly irritated. "Want to explain how you went from being chased by Jason to having to rescue Billy from Swedish body builder women?"

Tommy blushed a bit. "Not really, no."

"It wasn't really a question Dr. Oliver," Kimberly added. Tommy shrunk a bit lower in the seat.

"We ran into them, face first, and when the first one started beating us with a broom, I fell, Zack fell on me, and Jason almost fell, but grabbed the second one's breasts to stop himself. Billy was sweet talking them so they wouldn't kill us and we could make an escape. Next thing we know, we're searching the entire hotel for him. Found him tied to a chair, topless, being hand fed grapes and fondled in the maid's lounge. Jason and Zack were the distraction so I could slip in and untie him. We still don't know how he got tied to the chair and topless."

"You're serious aren't you?" Kimberly asked him trying not to laugh.

"Unfortunately," Tommy responded, "although by the time we found him I was a bit inebriated, so I don't remember details well. I think we ran into Conner, Trent, and Ethan, though."

"You didn't," both boys retorted swiftly. Tommy just looked at them and nodded.

"Well, now you've learned your lesson. Act like adults; not children."

"Believe me Kim, I never want to be hit with a broom again, nor do I want Zack's hand that close to… well you get the point."

The teens collapsed into helpless laughter, as did Kimberly, and even Tommy had to admit it was pretty funny. They were still laughing when Kimberly pulled Tommy's jeep into the parking lot of an older building that was situated right near Angel Grove's high school. Kimberly stepped out of the car and breathed in deeply as Trini finished parking and the rest of the group filtered out into the parking lot. Trini and Ethan looked highly amused, but the other three looked mortified. Tommy was pretty sure that they'd been convinced to tell the whole story as well.

"Still looks the same, doesn't it?" Kim asked Tommy, Billy, and Zack. Trini and Jason often frequented the building, since they lived so close. But they nodded in answer to her question as well. She handed Tommy his car keys as Trini lead the way into the youth center.

"Morning Mr. Scott, Mrs. Scott, Ms. Hart," the man at the counter said. Jason shook his head.

"Todd, how many times do we have to tell you to call us by our first names," he told the young man, who just nodded.

"Sorry, Mr. Scott, I mean Jason," he added. "The usuals?" he asked the former yellow and red rangers. Both shook their heads.

"Maybe later. Oh, guy this is Todd, Ernie's nephew. Todd this is Tommy Oliver, Zack Taylor, Billy Cranston, and Kimberly Hart," Trini performed the introductions.

"We've met," Kimberly said, smiling. "I explored a bit when my plane landed," she told her friends when they gave her curious looks."

"And this is Conner McKnight, Ethan James, Kira Ford, and Trent Mercer," Jason added. Todd shook each of their hands and the group followed Jason and Trini over to the table they sat at most often at the youth center when they were kids.

"This brings back memories," Zack muttered, watching a few kids using the weight machines. The others nodded.

"Ok, so who's up for actually sparring?" Trini asked the group, getting to her feet once more and stretching.

"Not with you. Not when you're in the 'I'm going to kill them all' mood. I'm not stupid you know," Tommy told her.

"Could have fooled me," she retorted.

"I'll have a go," Kira told her. Trini nodded and the two women went down to the mats. The other's turned their chairs to watch, as Jason followed them down, obviously he was going to act as referee.

"Ok, clean and fair. No scratching, no biting,"

"Jason?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up," Trini told him as she stretched. Kira stretched as well, but kept shooting looks back at her mentor and teammates. What had she gotten herself into.

Jason gave them the go ahead, and the next thing Kira knew she was on her back, staring up at the bright white lights and the grey ceiling tiles. Trini was laughing, and she reached her hand down to help the girl up. "Sorry, I should have waited a moment. I'm just so used to reacting the moment the match starts."

Kira gripped her hand and was on her feet once more, her head pounding a bit. "That's alright. Although I didn't expect to go down that fast," Kira laughed. "Once more?"

"Definitely," Trini agree, and Jason once again gave them the go ahead. This time Kira was ready for the older woman. Trini tried a low kick, and Kira managed to jump over it, but Trini landed a punch on her shoulder as she landed. The matched continued, Kira defending more than she was dealing out the blows. In the end, Kira was on her back again, but both girls were panting and covered in sweat. Trent offered his girlfriend water as she came back to the table, and sat beside him, whispering a horse thank you. "So, who's next?" Trini asked as she placed herself in her own chair. Tommy stood up and went down to the mat without so much as answering the question. He looked at the group. Zack was pretending to find the ceiling interesting, Trini was dead tired, Jason was content in his abilities as referee, Billy was trying to discuss battle statistics with Ethan, and Conner and Trent were looking around nervously.

"Oh, this will be fun," Kimberly laughed, getting up. Tommy's eyes went wide.

"Oh no. No way in hell," Tommy said shaking his head as Kim approached the mat and raised her eyebrows at him.

"What's the matter Tommy; afraid of a little girl?" Kimberly asked, batting her eyes and playing the helpless little damsel in distress. Tommy just shook his head.

"Yeah Dr. O, you can't honestly be afraid of Kimberly," Conner said from the side lines, looking for the cute innocent face of the former pink ranger, to the horrified expression his science teacher wore.

"Little girl my ass," Tommy swore. "That's not a little girl, its one of Zedd's monsters in disguise. Actually, make that a fifty foot tall monster in disguise." Everyone laughed, except Tommy as he was forced to take his position opposite his ex-girlfriend. "I'm so going to regret this," he mumbled to himself. "Remember, fair fight, Kimberly," he emphasized.

"Who me?"

"Yes you," Tommy retorted as Jason gave them the go ahead, and then stepped back to watch. Tommy didn't move, and neither did Kim, instead they circled one another. The adults were all trying to hide grins, as the teens watched, curiosity all over their faces. They were expecting more than they actually saw. Tommy threw a punch, but Kim saw it coming and easily countered and then did a hand spring over his head, landing softly, and kicking his solidly in the back. Instinctively, he tumbled into a summersault and turned on his toes, sending a round house kick at Kim's ankles. She tried to avoid, but he managed to clip her, sending her into a tuck and roll, but she stood back up, and they once again resumed circling.

"Not bad Tommy boy," Kim jeered. "Getting a bit rusty aren't you."

"Could say the same for you, Kimmie," Tommy retorted. Every few moments, they jumped towards one another, eliciting some move or other, and retreating. There was almost a dance like quality to the match, every so often sparkled with friendly banter.

"Come on Kimmie; Getting old are you?" Now they were pinned up against each other. Kim sent a kick and knocked him onto his back, and Tommy pulled her down on top of him.

"That's right Tommy, but I'll never be as old and rickety as you are," she called back.

"Oh really," Tommy said, flipping them over, so that Tommy was on the bottom.

"Yeah, you're old and tired and boring," Kimberly told him. "You're a science teacher." She gained the upper hand, and flipped him back.

"Right, so is that why you left me, huh? That why you wrote that letter? Was I too boring for you," he said, using his legs and flipping her over his head, using all his strength, an amount he never used unless he was in a battle. She landed, hard, on her back and didn't move. The adults jumped from the table and ran to the mats, as Tommy pulled himself to his feet and went to her. "Kim, I'm sorry. Oh my god, please be alright." He was kneeling beside her as Jason tried to help her sit up.

"I'm fine, really, I'm fine," she said, as Billy offered her a glass of water. As soon as it was away from her lips, Tommy threw his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry Kim," he pleaded into her neck. How the heck could he have done that?

"Tommy, really, I'm fine. You can let go," Kimberly laughed weakly, patting him on the back. He pulled back and looked at her. "I promise, I'm fine; Guess you win," she said, pushing herself from his arms and standing up. "I- uh, I need to use the rest room," she said.

"Kim?"

"Trini, I'm fine, I just have to use the bathroom," she insisted meeting each of her friends eyes squarely. Jason gave her a small nod, and let her disappear, before everyone looked at Tommy. He sighed and shook his head.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Tommy told them, and sat down at the table. As soon as he sat down, Conner gave his team a look and the four of them went down to the mats, Kira refereeing and Trent and Conner sparing, while Ethan kept score.

"What happened?" Zack asked Tommy, knowing what was said, but not really knowing why. His friend just shrugged, as he watched Trent bring Conner down. The red ranger didn't stay down for long, and the next minute, Trent was the one getting a face full of mat. Kira and Ethan made sure it didn't lead to any bleeding, and the two boys actually seemed to be taking one another lightly. This was a good way for them to vent out what had been bothering them earlier.

"I don't know. One minute we're playfully sparing, the next, she just struck a nerve, and I snapped. I shouldn't have come. I can't deal with this. What if I had hurt her just now?" Tommy held his head in his hands. Jason, Trini, Zack, and Billy all looked at one another. No one could say anything. They'd all promised themselves that they wouldn't get involved in this. It wasn't there business, and besides, they couldn't take sides.

"But you didn't," was all Jason could tell him, patting his friend on the back.

"But what if I did? You saw it. I can't be trusted with her," he argued.

"Well, we just won't let you spar with Kimberly anymore," Trini assured him.

"I don't know. Maybe I should take the kids and go back to Reefside before anything else happens," Tommy suggest.

"No, Jason and Trini are right. You didn't hurt her, and besides, you're both still in pain from ten years ago," Zack told him. "You're here; she's here. Try talking this out. Off the mats," he suggested. Billy nodded.

"And don't try to deny it anymore. Face what's been bothering you," Billy added. "Its not healthy. You should have talked to her long ago; but since you didn't, perhaps its best if you do it right away. We'll support you both, no matter what decision you reach."

"I suppose you're right."

"Course we are," Jason told him. "Now, who's up for showing the kids how real sparing is down?" Conner and Trent had called a truce, as neither was getting anywhere.

"Count me in. Tommy got to have his fun," Zack said, laughing and following Jason to the mats. "Come on Tommy, we need a referee." Tommy smiled, and nodded, following his two friends down.

Morning went by and was filled with countless match ups. Jason's match against Zack ended disastrously, with Zack on his back, trying to convince everyone he had a cramp. Tommy had sparred again Trini and ended up calling a truce because she was getting fustrated, and began aiming blows at his head. Jason went against Conner, who gave up before he was too badly beaten, not to mention embarrassed. Kimberly returned after a bit and sent a weak smile at Tommy but avoided him for a while. She and Kira ended up sparring, and they went until they reached best two out of three: Kim winning two and Kira winning one. Billy went against Jason, and the former red ranger was the one to submit victory to Billy, although he argued that he was tired. Ethan sparred Trent, and ended up loosing. Kimberly went against Billy and beat him, making Jason feel even worse about himself, at least until he went up against her, and then he was just plain embarrassed. When Kira beat Trent on the mats, she refused to talk to him for several minutes afterwards, swearing he had let her win, and demanded a rematch. This time, Trent didn't hold back, but still found himself face down on the blue mats. Lastly Jason and Tommy finally agreed to go up against one another.

This unfortunately was a bad idea, as all that happened was one would hit the ground, but would be up within a second refusing to give up. After thirty minutes of endless battle, Trini had to step in between them in order to get them to stop. They shook hands, but refused to stop glaring at one another, and when they returned to the table, they sat on opposite sides. Consequently, this placed Tommy directly beside Kimberly. He blushed slightly and opened his mouth to say something. She just put her finger to his lips and shook her head.

"Later, I promise," she whispered to him.

"But we're ok?" he returned, just as quietly.

"Of course, but later?"

Tommy just nodded, and relaxed in the chair. "Now what?" Billy asked, taking a sip of his drink. During the sparring, they'd each taken turns retrieving glasses of water for one another. Now they were over half empty.

"Well, you know that story where you left us hanging yesterday?" Ethan prodded, and Tommy groaned. Trent, Ethan, and Kira, all gave him the puppy dog eyes. Conner even threw in a pout.

"Alright, alright fine, but keep your voices down. Where did we leave off?"

"You were in battle with Billy, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly, and Jason was about to become Goldar's pin cushion," Conner told him.

"Right, ok, so the battle ended. No one really won it, just sort of gave up, or both sides would have been dead," Kimberly told them. "The next day, Zack and I saw Tommy at school and asked him if he'd seen Jason. He told us Jason blew him off for a work out after school the previous day, and he hadn't seen him since. But we knew that Jason would have at least gone to talk to him and apologize, thus for the first time, we were suspicious that Tommy was the green ranger. He left so quickly, that we did the only thing we could, which was follow. Unfortunately, Rita sent the putties to stop us, and he got away."

"What about Jason? How is he still alive?" Kira asked eagerly.

"Well, I did the only thing that I could do when stuck in a room with a giant gold monkey and no morpher," Jason told her, and the teens looked at him confused. "I dove into the mist and hid. Goldar had to go on a random search, plunging the tip of his sword directly into the mist, in order to find me;hoping he'd hit me. There were several close calls."

"You hid?" Conner asked in disbelief.

"What'd you expect me to do? I was powerless, remember," he retorted.

"He was also hopeless without the rest of us," Trini told the teens.

"I was not," Jason protested to the giggling audience. "Anyway, Goldar finally found me, and he was actually about to kill me when I get my ass saved in the most random way possible. The green ranger shows up, wanting my head for his own."

"Well, maybe not your head, cause then I'd have had to look at it all the time," Tommy laughed. "I only did it cause Rita wanted Goldar to join her and her newest minion Scorpina in the throne room, otherwise I'd have made the monkey do away with you. Wouldn't have wasted my time. Now, had it been Billy, there would have been a challenge."

"Hey!" Both Billy and Jason retorted, but for different reasons.

"Kidding! Anyway, Jason and I fought for a few moments, and he managed to get his hands back on his morpher. Not that I was going to let him use it. I took out the sword of darkness and was prepared to run him through with it, when he disappeared suddenly."

"I'd managed to get the communicators and teleportation fixed at just the right moment, and teleported Jason back to the command center, when he collapsed onto the floor, definitely scared out of his mind," Billy picked up the story.

"You would have been scared too if you were about to be killed and couldn't do a single thing about it accept wait for you friends to rescue you ass," Jason hissed at him. Billy just shrugged.

"Jason explained what had happened, and while we tried to figure it all out, the viewing globe showed us that Scorpina was attacking angel grove. Fortunately, Goldar decided that her facing the five of us in morph was a very risky idea, and he came and got her, thus no need for a battle."

"I really wasn't up to a battle at that point," Jason agreed. "In fact, all I wanted was a nap… and probably eat something to make sure I was still alive and did need to eat. Two things had tried to kill me that day."

"I am not a thing, thank you very much," Tommy protested.

"Yes, but Goldar is most definitely not a person. And you more closely resemble a thing," Zack told him.

"And your mother was a puttie," Tommy retorted, and Zack threw a piece of ice at him.

"Children, children, settle down," Kira told them both, and the next thing she knew, ice was being launched at her.

"So what happened?" Trent urged.

"Rita decided to try and find a spell to stop the ranger's solar power," Tommy told them. "As a distraction, she sent a giant Goldar into down town."

"We'd just gotten back when we noticed and were going to," Kimberly began when she was suddenly cut off by Todd.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys, but the mail just arrived, and my uncle sent me something that said it was to be given to you guys," Todd told them. "Don't know how he knew you'd be here, but I told him I'd seen Jason and Trini often enough."

"Um… thanks Todd," Kim replied, hoping he hadn't heard anything. She took the letter from him and frowned at it. "What do you think this is about?"

"I have a very sinking feeling," Trini replied, knowing there could only be one reason Ernie was writing to them as a group. Kimberly nodded and handed the letter to Tommy.

"Me? Why me?" he asked, holding the piece of paper.

"Cause you're the leader," Zack retorted. Tommy shook his head.

"No, if this is what I think it is, Jason's gotta open it," Tommy protested, and pushed the envelope to his friend who sighed and consented. He slipped his fingers beneath the flap and carefully slipped open the sealed paper, pulling out a sheet of thin paper. He looked at everyone once before withdrawing the paper and unfolding it.

"_Dear Jason, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, Zack, Tommy,Rocky, Aisha, Adam, and Kat_," Jason read, and paused. "He covered his bases well, didn't he?"

"Read it Jase," Kimberly urged, not realizing she was gripping Tommy's arm. Trini was hanging on Jason as well, and Billy and Zack kept looking at one another.

"Why is it so bad to get a letter?" Kira asked them.

"Its not the letter. Its who its from: the one person we ever suspected really knew who we were," Trini explained.

"And the fact that its addressed to everyone who used the original rangers' powers, isn't all that reassuring," Tommy told her. "Gone on Bro,"

"Right, anyway:

_I suppose you've guessed why I would be writing to you all now. I had to take my chances that at least one of you would go to the juice bar this week; my nephew did tell me that Jason and Trini have been frequent costumers, but I had hoped this would find its way to most, if not all of you. Firstly, I'd like to say that I miss you all. You were great kids and I'm sure you've all turned out to be wonderful adults. I'd be glad to know you're still coming back here and using the equipment (Jason, Tommy, you're not young anymore. Please don't break the machines)."_ At this, all of them laughed, even though Tommy and Jason were now blushing slightly.

"_Secondly, and most importantly, I feel its time I come right out and tell you. I know. I've always known, or at least suspected. I will take your secret to the grave my friends, but I thought you deserved to have it confirmed that there was one person who'd living in Angel Grove who'd always known and helped to keep your identities safe. I suppose Bulk and Skull are still guessing though. _

_Jason; brave and strong; willing to put himself first, always protecting his friends. I still remember when you were kids and you protected little Kimberly when the larger kids tried to pour a smoothie down her dress. Through it all, you were the leader. Didn't surprise me that you were the red ranger who lead the team into battle to protect Angel Grove._

_Trini; intelligent and determined; always keeping the peace, and always ready to help a friend in need, no matter what it took. The first time you made it to the top of the rope, I knew you'd conquered that fear of heights of yours. I'm sure you conquered so much more as Angel Grove's yellow guardian._

_Billy; the genius and the sweetest guy a person could know. I swear the only reason you didn't have a girlfriend was that you were too shy, or that you were always busy with that technology of yours. Thanks for all of your help as the blue ranger._

_Kimberly; sweet, kind, spirited; what would we have done without you? Your agility was amazing. I was never surprised in the feats of strength and skill that the pink ranger managed to show in countless battles. Don't let anyone tell you you're weak, because you're far from it. _

_Zack; the clown with the heart of gold; Been getting into any messes lately? But seriously, the strength and skill you possessed came not only from your muscles, but from your heart. I don't think the team would have done as well without the black ranger, and I'm sure your friends agree._

_Rocky; you always knew you had big shoes to fill when Jason gave you his powers. And you did. You were a wonderful addition to the team; despite that you were a red ranger, I knew the team had changed. You were your own person, not just the replacement. You did great._

_Aisha; another sweet girl who would do anything to help the people around her; the skills you possessed were an asset to Angel Grove, both as our second yellow ranger and as a student and friend. I hope this letter finds you well and following your dreams. _

_Adam; quiet and shy; I didn't think it would be possible for anyone to be more reserved than Billy, but you proved me wrong. You proved a lot of people wrong. You found your inner courage and it served you well as our second black ranger.  
__  
Kat; you were unique in so many ways. You weren't just a replacement, and you know that. Your friends know that. You brought a new attitude to the team, and were incredibly important to the rangers success. You made a fine pink ranger. _

_And last, but certainly not least, Tommy; Could you pick a color, huh? As the green ranger we feared you, but then when the city realized you'd found your true place, you were celebrated. The quiet, new teen who didn't have a friend here at all. You found you place immediately, and I only hope you still know it. As the white ranger you assumed leadership, but we knew you relied on Jason in most situations to support you. You were strong and courageous and a hero to so many.And now, you've got your own team. Don't seem so surprised that I placed you with them. It was obvious. I'm sure they're all as wonderful as you were. _

_I do know that some of you have under gone power changes, and even color changes, but it was the original rangers who are being honored in the weeks to come, and for that I thought you should be reminded by an outsider of all the good you did with your first powers, and how you did it. Take a few moments to celebrate yourselves. You did a great thing, and I know both Angel Grove and the world thank you. _

_Good luck you guys in all your futures,  
Ernie"_

"I don't even know what to say," Trini breathed when Jason folded the letter and stuffed it back into the envelope so no one would find it.

"But I thought you said you suspected he knew?" Ethan asked them.

"I suppose we did. But he got every color correct. He knew about the power transfers, which I guess isn't that hard. But he knew everything," Kimberly explained. "Its just weird. When you think a secret is so well protected, only to find out that someone knows." She realized she'd been gripping Tommy and released his arm. All he did was give her a little smile.

"Its both troubling and wonderful at the same time. I feel like the whole world knows who I am now, but I also want to call Ernie up and have a three hour conversation with him about what life was really like back then," Zack put in.

"That makes sense. Do you think he knows who we are?" Conner asked.

"It's a very good possibility," Tommy told them, looking at Jason. "What are you going to do with it?" The first red ranger was carefully folding the paper into a tiny square.

"I'm going to mail it to Rocky when all this is done. He, Adam, Aisha, and Kat all deserve to see it as well," Jason responded.

"Spoken like a true leader," Trini said, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Ahh, so I'm forgiven for earlier?" he asked, with a laugh.

"Like Ernie said, Brave and strong, always protecting his friends. I can't fault you for doing what you need to. Although you could have been more discrete."

"I know, but we were tired, and it seemed like the only thing that would work. I mean, if you had seen them, you would have done the same."

"Any longer in there and I think I would have cracked," Billy laughed.

"I think we've all already cracked. Imagine what we'd be if we'd never been rangers," Tommy told them.

"Normal?" Trent asked him. Tommy gave him a mock glare, but then sighed.

"Actually, you're right. But I don't think I'd want to be normal."

"Me neither," Kimberly agreed.

"Then a toast! To not being normal," Zack said, raising his glass, and the other nine rangers raised their glasses as well.

"To not being normal!" they shouted, before bursting into laughter. Tommy eased back into his chair. This was good. This was how it was supposed to be. And he would talk to Kimberly later. Maybe things could be even better.

* * *

So, a bit more serious than previous chapters, but I hope you still enjoyed. I'm having fun having the rangers relive the green with evil mini saga. Anyway, I've decided on a goal. I want to reach 100 reviews by the end of chapter ten… its up to you guys to make that happen. I've never reached triple digits on a story before. I've already started work on chapter 9 which will probably revert back to chaos and unfortunately will probably be a tad bit shorter, but I promise it will be good. Later guys,  
Fatelesswanderer 


	9. Pachinko Trouble and Unconscious Flirts

I know I know. I'm so bad for not updating in so long, but summer vacation started, and my friends have been able to get on me to update some of my other stories lately. I do apologize, and to make up for it, a nice long and quite entertaining chapter.

* * *

"Well, that was nice and all, but I'm hungry," Conner remarked, as soon as the glasses were back on the table where they belonged, instead of clinking in the air. Kira elbowed him in the stomach. 

"You're always hungry, Conner," Ethan told him. "But perhaps we could have lunch?" he asked, mainly looking at his teacher, who sighed. It really would have been nice to be able to sit for a few seconds before had to run off and do more errands for people. None the less, he nodded solemnly and looked at the others.

"Anyone else hungry?"

"Now that you mention it," Zack told him. "How about smoothies and French fries?"

"That's not really all that healthy," Trini informed him. Zack just sat back in his chair and smiled.

"I know, but its convenient," he replied, gesturing to the sign behind him. "And if we must relive our childhood, I vote we relive it while eating like kids," he added. Trini, Billy, and Kimberly all looked at him, slightly unsure, but Tommy and Jason were grinning like mad men.

"So, that's three votes for the fries and smoothies, and three votes that we go find something that's not going to leave us in junk food comas," Kimberly said, looking at the four kids. "Ok guys, what are your votes?"

"I kinda wanted a salad," Trent told them.

"Fries!" Conner and Ethan said at the same time, and then laughed. Tommy gave them a very approving look.

"Ok Kira, it's up to you," Billy told the girl.

"Doesn't matter; all she can do is tie the vote," Jason told his wife and her team.

"Actually, Kira's vote should count twice since she's the only girl on that team. That makes it fair." Kimberly told him. Jason was going to argue, but Kim just gave him a look and he was immediately silent. "Go ahead, Kira."

"Sorry, Kim, but junk food is the only thing the guys and I agree on," Kira said with a bit of a laugh. Zack and Jason were doing a victory dance, while Tommy was grinning wider. "Really, I'm sorry. But nothing beats French fries."

"Aww, don't be so down you guys, you can get health smoothies," Zack retorted.

"Yeah, don't be sore loosers," Jason told them.

"I'll show you sore," Trini mumbled under her breath, but Jason just came up and kissed the back of her neck. She giggled and relaxed into his arms. "I despise you, you know that?"

"I know. You said it in your vows," he replied. "Come, pick out your smoothie, I'll pay."

"You better," Trini replied, kissing him firmly.

"Ok, really, stop that, its creepy," Zack told them.

"Wasn't creepy when Tommy and Kimberly were doing it," Jason pointed out.

"Hey! We never made out in public!" Tommy retorted. Kimberly just blushed bright pink. "We always did it in private."

"Too much information Dr. O! Way too much!" Ethan responded.

"Dr. O… kissing…" Conner just blinked several times.

"This feels really awkward," Trent added.

"I'm going to be sick," Kira put in and dashed off to the bathrooms. The adults, except Tommy, burst out laughing; Conner and Ethan had amused looks on their faces, and Trent looked like he wanted to kill the paleontologist, as everyone else went to go place some orders at the counter where Todd was. Trent took care of ordering for Kira, and patiently waited for her to return for her latest "Tommy induced" trip to the restroom. Trini made a joke that he had developed a knack for sending girls running towards the nearest bathroom, which caused much laughter and more glaring on Tommy's part.

Lunch was thus a meal of French fries and smoothies, which didn't result in junk food comas, contrary to Kimberly's prediction. Instead, it lead to an afternoon filled with more jokes, laughter, and many more sparring matches. Tommy's shoulder was killing him by the time the adults all returned to the table, and he was shooting Jason glares for daring him to a contest of who could lift the most weight. He couldn't believe some of the idiotic stuff they had participated in when the youth center slowly became filled with other costumers.

Kira and Trini had convinced Kimberly to get back up on the balance beam at one point, which attracted quite a bit of attention from the younger crowd. Apparently, Kim's career as a gymnast, short lived as it may have been, had caught a bit of a following among the younger members of the angel grove population, and Kim soon found herself signing autographs.

At one point, Billy and Zack had disappeared, leaving the other four adults standing on the gym mats, talking about nothing in particular while Conner and Trent were having an arm wrestling match, Ethan and Kira cheering them on respectively. One minute Trini was leaning against Jason, and the next she's at the top of the rope, glaring down at the mats where the others were laughing their heads off. Apparently Zack and Billy had found Zack's old monster mask in the back of one of the lockers, and for old times sake, Zack had put it on to see if he could still scare Trini. They spent the next half hour convincing her that Zack did really deserve to live.

By the time they'd sat down to take a breather, Trini was calmer, Kimberly's followers had disappeared, Jason and Tommy were in pain, Zack was still scared for his life, and Billy, well, Billy was still slightly traumatized from the night before.

"Oh no," Tommy said, as Trini told them more in detail what had happened at the pre-school that Halloween. "Any one else notice that the kids are missing?"

"Tommy, you sound like a mother hen," Zack told him, completely missing the point of the evil glare that got sent his way.

"Relax, they're fine. Trent and Conner asked permission to go out to the school's soccer field and kick a ball they found, around. Kira and Ethan are over there by the video games," Kimberly told him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Tommy looked at her for a moment, and she withdrew her hand.

"They asked permission? From who?"

"Me," Kim told him.

"Since when do they go to you for permission. You don't have any authority over them. You shouldn't have told them they could."

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to bother you why you were having a childish battle with Jason, oh mr. responsible.

"They could have waited."

"Right, because if you were eighteen, you'd want to be standing around watching your science teacher act like he was your age."

"Guys, drop it!" Trini told them, glancing back and fourth. Ok, moving way too far in the wrong direction. Friends not bitter enemies. "Or you're both going to time out."

"What!" they both gave her looks that could have killed. The black haired woman just glared back, hands on her hips.

"You heard me. You're both acting like children. Tommy, they're not babies, and we're your friends. As far as I see it, we're all responsible for them. And if you want sole responsibility, don't ignore them. And Kim, you should have told him earlier where they all went." Everyone was silent when she'd finished her rant, especially the two arguers who were now blushing bright red.

"I'm sorry," Tommy muttered. Kimberly just nodded until she caught sight of her best friend's gaze.

"Me too."

"Good, now kiss and make up."

Both of them looked at her as if she'd grown a second head that resembled Rita Repulsa. Basically they were saying, you've got to be kidding me. Tommy was the first to look away, shaking his head. Kimberly just narrowed her eyes at her friend, and then threw a straw wrapper at her, which bounced off her chest and rolled into the open neck of her shirt. Trini just looked at her for a moment, open mouthed.

"Why you little?"

"Don't like it, take it out," Kimberly retorted laughing at her. All of the guys turned to stare at her. "By the way, nice try." With that, she stood up, grabbed her purse, and went to the counter to order a drink, her friends watching her go. Tommy began to laugh when he realized what she meant, and stood to follow her.

"Well, that was interesting," Jason remarked to his wife, Zack and Billy, who all nodded. They were watching as Tommy pulled a stool up beside Kimberly. The two of them began to talk, smiling as they went, until laughing, Kim slugged Tommy in the arm, and then leaned against him for a millisecond.

"And it worked," Trini replied.

"What worked?" Zack asked, looking at the three smirks on his friends faces. "Come on, tell me."

"The best way to get them to get along is to have them side together on something. Arguing was the perfect distraction, and then all Trini had to do was mention kissing. Neither will admit that they have feelings for one another, and thus they side together that kissing is a very negative idea," Billy explained, grinning.

"Wow… I can't believe it worked."

"Billy's idea," Jason added, leaning back in his chair. "Masterfully carried out by MY wife."

"Jason, man, you say that with too much pride. I almost expect you to turn up wearing a skirt one of these days," Zack told him, getting laughter from Trini and Billy, and one of the biggest, "I'm going to step on you with a zord" stares in the entirety of Angel Grove.

"Well, there was that one time in Scotland last month," Trini told them.

"It was a KILT!"

* * *

Conner raced up the field, the ball bouncing against his feet as he went. Trent was playing goalie at the moment, and if there was on thing he would admit that Conner was better at, it was soccer, and maybe dancing. The white ranger attempted to keep his eyes locked onto the ball; attempted being the operative word at that point. So far, out of eight kicks, Trent had managed to block one and that had been an accident since he'd gotten distracted as a bird flew by and managed to keep the ball out of the net with his face. 

However, he was determined to block the next one, no matter what. There was no way he wanted to walk back into the youth center with the imprint of a soccer ball on his face, and have to say that it was the only time he'd managed to block one of Conner's kicks.

So, here came his opponent, a look of triumph on his face, determination in his eyes. Trent could be determined to. Yes, only a few feet away from him at that moment. And then Conner sent one more kick; the ball was flying towards the net faster than any he'd sent earlier, at least in Trent's opinion. It was perfect. There was no way it was going to get passed him. And then he dove for it, one chance to prevent the ball for entering the net. His foot caught along the ground and his dive was too short. The ball sailed over his head and landed right in the back of the net. Trent looked up, his face covered in dirt from his fall to see Conner doing a victory dance, to the sound of… was that applause?

He looked around until his eyes feel on a man and woman off to the side of the field. The man was clapping, while the woman wore a look of amusement on her face. Conner happened to notice them at the same moment as his friend did, and went over to help Trent off the ground.

"Who are they?" Conner whispered, offering his hand to the former white ranger. Trent shrugged, but took his teammates hand and the two of them approached their audience.

"You're the woman from last night," Trent blurted out in surprise. She just smiled and nodded. "I mean, thanks again for back then."

"No problem. Its always a good thing to help someone in need," she said, leaning against her companion and smiling up at him. The man gave a little nod, as if finding hidden meaning to his statement.

"Nice kick," he told Conner who grinned.

"Thanks. You play?"

"I little, when I was a kid. Mind if I have a go?"

"Not at all," Conner replied, leading the older man out onto the field, and taking his place at the net. Trent watched, mumbling about seeing Conner do any better stopping a speeding ball headed right at his face.

"So, that your fiancé?" he suddenly asked the woman he was standing beside. Ok, officially lost all smooth capabilities. Here he was, trying to have a conversation with a woman he didn't even know, about her fiancé. Forget the fact that she was much older than he was.

"Him? No way. We're just best friends. My fiancé's in the youth center getting drinks," she replied. "And your girlfriend?"

"Oh… um, she's in the youth center with a bunch of our friends."

"There's a whole group of you?" she asked, kind of surprised. "And you were alone last night?"

"Well, there's only four teenagers. We're visiting from Reefside with a friend of my dad's." Ok so half truth. But she'd think he was nuts if he told her that he was here on a trip with his science teacher. Yes Trent, that would go over really well. He watched as the man sent kick after kick at Conner. Some the former red ranger blocked, others he missed, never once did he get hit in the face or do a face plant in the dirt. Damn him.

"Reefside? Didn't they have a team of power rangers not to long ago?" she asked him, her face saying she was completely curious.

"Um… I think so."

"You think? How do you not know?" she asked, her eyes even more incriminating than it was the first time.

"Well, I'm sort of an indoor person. And dad doesn't believe in television, so no news reports. I heard rumors though," he replied. How could he get out of this mess. "I'm Trent by the way. And that's Conner." Luckily the two others were rejoining them, and maybe Conner could think of a way to get the woman's mind off of the power rangers. He really didn't think it was a good idea to mention anything about them this week.

"Interesting," she replied not really listening, as the other two joined them.

"It's nice to meet you guys. And those were some great moves, Conner," the other man told him. "You should try going professional."

"Yeah, well, I tried out once, but other things were a little more important." Conner responded, glancing at his wrist for a moment.

"Trent was just telling me they're visiting from Reefside."

"Really, weren't the Dino Thunder Power Rangers from Reefside?" he asked. Conner looked at Trent who shrugged, still trying to pretend he absolutely no idea.

"Yeah, I saw them a few times. Nothing like the Power Rangers from here though, or so says our science teacher."

"Your science teacher?" the woman asked, getting a tad bit confused. What would their science teacher know about Angel Grove's power rangers?

"Yeah, he grew up here. Said that the Dino Rangers were more mature, more likely adults, while Angel Grove rangers were more than likely teenagers. He said they probably attended Angel Grove high," Conner finished. For some reason, both adults looked rather uncomfortable. They looked at one another and then back at the teens. "He's in the youth center if you want to meet him," Conner offered.

"I thought you said you were visiting with a friend of your dad?" the woman asked, looking at Trent.

"Well, he also happens to be our high school science teacher." Smooth Trent. You officially deserve an award for best cover story. At that moment, he wanted to disappear. Approaching these two had been a very, very bad idea.

"We'd love to," the man responded to Conner's offer. "Maybe we know him."

Conner just nodded, and gave Trent, a look that said if neither of them could get the adults minds off the Dino Thunder teens, than the adults could. Maybe they knew them from high school, and that could become the new center of attention. Hopefully; otherwise, Dr. O would probably kill them.

* * *

Kira and Ethan had wandered into the arcade, only to hear a small shouting match going on back at the table where their science teacher sat with his friends. Kira glanced over her shoulder, and winced, not liking the site of them all arguing. It greatly diminished the god like quality that the former rangers had taken on in the teens eyes. She sighed and looked at Ethan. 

"Think we should go back and apologize to Dr. O?" she asked him. Ethan considered for a moment, but his eyes were more focused on the old fashioned machines in the arcade area of the youth center. Very different from Haley's place.

"Later, probably not a good idea to approach him when he's angry," Ethan reminded her. Kira just nodded and followed him deeper into the arcade. The former blue ranger had already put at least five dollars into the change machine and was engaged in a game. She leaned back against the machine and looked over the very sparce collection of costumers that happened to find themselves there. There were several small children who had wandered in looking bored, obviously waiting on older siblings or parents. Some teenagers, though they all seemed rather bored themselves. Video games obviously weren't as big here as the gym equipment. No wonder Dr. O felt so comfortable. He wasn't weird; it was just that Angel Grove was hypnotized to want to do nothing but stay in peek physical condition. The only other person in the arcade was an older man, probably Dr. O's age, she figured. He was holding three smoothies, but staring at a very odd looking game in the corner as if debating whether he had time to play or not. Kira nudged Ethan when his game ended.

"Hey, what's that thing?" she asked him, figuring Ethan of all people would know what it was. After all, anything dealing with games, and Ethan would worship it. Conner was depressed that Ethan could even win at the soccer game Tommy had for his sega system. Kira had often asked Ethan why they didn't play with the play station he owned, and Ethan had remarked that avoiding Dr. O's place just felt wrong. Then she'd asked why they didn't bring the play station over, and Ethan had just stared at her.

She couldn't say she didn't agree. After nearly a year of fighting and being at the lab almost every day, it would feel weird not seeing Tommy. How would they feel when college started in the fall? But the more she though about it, the more she wondered how any of them could have given up being with the group? And how they'd all managed to lose contact. Kira couldn't even picture not talking to Trent, or Ethan, or even Conner. They were her friends and teammates, and she trusted them all above any one else.

Ethan looked over the machine Kira had indicated, and together the two of them approached it, Ethan still examining each bit. Finally he turned to Kira and sighed.

"For once, I have no idea," he told her, with a slight laugh.

"It's a Pachinko machine," came a voice from their left. Both teenagers looked up to see the man Kira had spotted earlier. He'd set the smoothies down beside the machine and was looking at them. "You control the speed at which the balls are thrown into the machine, and they fall into the holes. Most will fall to the bottom, but if you play right, some fall in the special holes which set off the slots, which lets you win more balls. Game's over when you lose all of the steel balls," he told them. "Mind if I have a go?"

"Sure thing," Ethan responded, as he and Kira moved a bit to the side to watch. "But how do you know so much about it?"

The man just laughed for a moment as he began to play, quickly releasing the balls and obtaining hundreds more. "I had a bit of a mishap with this machine years ago. Figured I should find out as much as I could about it before I let it beat me again," he remarked as the game went on. Kira and Ethan stood watching, surprised at how well he played. Finally, when the game was up, fifteen minutes later, he looked up. During the game it was as if he'd zoned out. Blinking for a moment he sighed. "Ok, so that was a bad idea," he said, looking at his watch. "My fiancé's going to kill me," he picked up the smoothies and turned to the two teens. "Its was nice talking to you…"

"Kira, and that's Ethan," she said, jerking her finger at the boy who was staring at the score on the machine in total shock. He didn't think they made numbers that big.

"Ahh, well, I really should be going," the man told them, completely blanking on actually giving his name.

"We should too," Kira told Ethan, looking at her own watch. It was getting late, and was probably almost dinner time, and she figured Kimberly, Trini, and Billy would not be content eating just French fries for dinner. Together, the three of them left the arcade. As soon as they reached the entrance, Kira caught sight of Trent and Conner coming in the door. "Trent!" she called, waving as they made their way over. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, and brushed some of the dirt away. "Aww… poor baby. Looks like you and the ground made friends?"

"They sure did," the woman who was with them said. Trent blushed.

"Um… and you are?"

"Kira, this is the woman who saved me from those women last night," Trent told her. Kira nodded and smiled as the man from the arcade handed her one of the smoothies as well as giving one to the man who was with her.

"Where were you?" the woman asked him.

"Sorry… I… arcade…" he mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Your fiancé is amazing on the Pachinko machine," Ethan blurted out, causing the two other adults to break out laughing, while the man began to blush. "What? What'd I say?"

"Nothing," the second man responded, still snickering, and turning to his friend. "I thought you were scared of ever playing it again?"

"Yeah well, its been about ten years. You get over things like that," his friend responded.

"Easy for you to say; You kicked me, remember?" the girl told him, hugging his arm. "Anyway, Conner, you were going to introduce us to your science teacher?"

"Right," Conner said, leading the group toward the table.

"Dr. O!" he called out once they were within hearing range of the table. Tommy and Kimberly each had a glass of lemonade, Trini was sitting in Jason's lap, Billy was leaning back in one of the chairs, his feet on another, and Zack was on the floor doing push up for some odd reason.

Tommy looked up to see the four teenagers heading towards them, but there were three adults in tow. He frowned for a moment, wondering exactly what was going on, and what type of trouble they'd managed to get themselves into when not in his sight. He shot a look at Kimberly and sighed.

"Whatever they did, its your fault," he whispered to her, an amused grin on his face. Lets see how well she dealt with the pressure of being the responsible adult. Kimberly was about to retort when she looked up and made eye contact with the woman in the group.

"OH MY GOD!" One minute she was screaming and the next, she was no longer in her chair. Instead the former pink ranger was hugging the woman around her neck for all she was worth. Both were talking a mile a minute, and were joined by Trini a moment later, and still, things hadn't sunk into the guys. Well, they sort of had, but rather than start screaming, they just stared at one another.

Suddenly Kimberly threw her arms off the woman and around both of the guys, kissing their cheeks as hard as she could.

"So… um, I take it you all know each other?" Conner asked. For once the other three teens didn't look at him like he was an idiot. They were just as shocked as he was.

"It appears that way," the woman said, laughing. She looked at her two friends who were standing still, mouths open, trying to find the exact words they were looking for. "Adam? Rocky? You guys still alive?" she asked them.

"I think so," was Rocky's response. "But I could swear the woman that just kissed me looked a lot like Kimberly," he joked, finally accepting what was going on.

"That's because it was Kimberly," Kim jeered at him. Meanwhile, they'd all begun to exchange hugs and how are yous and what are you doing heres, forgetting completely about the fact that the teens were staring at them like they had just morphed in plain view.

"Um… Dr. O, want to tell us what's going on?" Kira finally said, loud enough to get their attention.

"Dr. O?" Adam asked him, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"Shut up," Tommy responded, a small blush on his face. "Anyway, guys," he said, turning his attention to the kids. "This is Adam, Aisha, and Rocky; black, yellow, red," he informed them as Aisha elbowed him hard in the gut, causing him to double over in pain. "Ok… what did I do to deserve that?" he asked, wincing, and trying to regain his breath. Jason shrugged but stepped away from the woman anyway.

"Why'd you tell them that? Are you trying to expose us," she hissed at him, just loudly enough for the group to hear. Had he not been in pain, Tommy would have laughed. Instead he attempted a grin and fell into one of the chairs.

"Introduce yourselves," he told the teens between desperate attempts to put air back in his longs, looking from the very confused former students to the very confused former teammates.

"We already did," Conner informed him, but Tommy shook his head, meeting the eyes of the other five who knew what was going on. They were all resisting the urge to laugh, especially Kimberly, who was torn between laughing at Tommy and rushing over and comforting him. She knew exactly how hard Aisha could hit when she was angry.

"No, really introduce yourselves," he said, this time focusing his eyes on Kira, while still trying to recover from the pain. He looked like a wounded puppy in Kim's eyes. She frowned at him for a minute and finally realized what he wanted her to do.

"Um… we're the Dino Thunder rangers," she said, more asking Tommy if she was right in saying that. He just nodded, as everyone took their seats, and Aisha, Adam, and Rocky relaxed.

"Well, that explains the strange round about way of talking about Reefside," Aisha told Trent who smiled.

"Sorry, but you know how it is," he responded, now knowing exactly who these people were.

"So, you guys are here for Power Ranger's day?" Trini asked them, leaning forward in her seat.

"Of course, wouldn't have missed it for the world," Adam told her. "And you guys?"

"Planning on showing up in costume," Zack told his successor. "What about you ?"

"Don't know," Rocky told them. "Maybe we shouldn't. After all, if there are multiples of us, that would point at the power switch. Anyone smart enough could figure out that you three left, and we joined at about the same time, and hung out with the same three people."

"WOW… Rocky has a brain," Billy laughed, getting a punch in the arm for his remark, but laughter from everyone else. "But he has a point. Probably better that only one red, yellow, and black ranger show up."

"Speaking of people knowing who we are," Jason said, pulling out a letter from his pocket. He handed the envelope to Rocky, indicating that he should read it to the other three. Rocky studied the writing for a moment before looking up.

"He knew?" he asked the other six, all who nodded. He sighed and opened the letter. Adam and Aisha leaned in and read it along with him.

"Well, we always sort of knew he did, didn't we?" Aisha asked when they were done.

"I feel so exposed," Adam told them. "But free at the same time," he added, upon further reflection. Every nodded agreement.

"Conner? Where did you find these three anyway?" Tommy suddenly asked, hugging Aisha around the shoulders.

"Well, it turns out Aisha was Trent's savior last night, and Adam challenged me to a quick game of goal scoring out on the soccer field just now," Conner told him, leaning into the group a bit.

"And Rocky?" Trini asked them.

"Please don't say it," Rocky begged, the teens, but by now Aisha and Adam were laughing again. Kira and the others were now very curious, so she spoke up.

"He taught Ethan and I how to play the Pachinko machine," she told them. Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy looked from Rocky, to Aisha and Adam, to the bewildered teens, and then back at the blushing Rocky.

"You're kidding," Kim said.

"Please tell us they're kidding," Billy demanded.

"Rocky, you swore you'd never go near that thing again," Tommy whinned. "What if it happened again?"

"Hey! It wasn't my fault. Zedd was involved!" Rocky argued.

"Ok, so here's something I've yet to hear about," Zack put in. Trini and Jason nodded, and the teens looked even more curious.

"Yeah, well, it was still your fault," Tommy argued back at him.

"Looks who's talking. Nothing happened to you," Rocky told him.

"I had to fight alone because of it," Tommy laughed. "Well, until you showed up and redeemed yourself."

"I did very well in that battle, thank you very much."

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Trini finally shouted, but then lowered her voice when she had their attention, and accidentally the attention of every one else in the youth center. "I mean, what happened?" she said, blushing as they got glares from the other costumers, who rolled their eyes and looked away as chatter resumed.

"Wonderful effect, Trini," Kimberly laughed and Trini tossed a left over French fry at her.

"Only my wife could get the attention of an entire crowd," Jason added, kissing her on the cheek. "Not to mention, our thick headed friends."

"Yeah yeah, so what happened?"

"Well, Ernie got that Pachinko machine the day Rocky and I were studying for a math test, and the day Rocky was supposed to help his student practice for her next belt test," Billy told them. "Anyway, Rocky fell in love with the game, and when none of us were paying attention, Zedd cast a spell on him, making it so all he wanted to do was have fun. I should have realized something was off when he blew off studying and his student, but I didn't. Anyway, I finally got him to abandon the machine and come to the park to meet the others."

"Must we tell this story?" Rocky moaned, placing his head in his hands. Aisha hugged him around the waist. "Doesn't anyone love me?"

"I love you," she told him, "But we still have to tell the story."

"Damn," he mumbled, causing everyone to laugh.

"Anyway, Billy and Rocky met us at the park, and Billy told us that Rocky was acting weird, which was obvious since he was running around making more of a fool of himself than he usually did," Adam told them.

"Hey!"

"Deal with it Rocko," Tommy told his him. Rocky again muttered to himself.

"Next thing we know, Zedd turned Ernie's Pachinko machine into a monster, I think he called himself Pachinko Head."

"You mean that machine in the arcade. That was a monster?"

"Yep, one and the same," Rocky told Kira, who'd asked the question.

"Anyway, we all morphed, including Rocky, but all that did was turn him into a demented red ranger. He ran around pretending he was an Indian," Adam continued, getting laughter, as Rocky glowed red and mutter something that sounded like 'I hate you.' "Amusement was short lived, as without any warning, Pachinko Head sent a blast out that hit Billy, Kimberly, and Aisha, and turned them into very large pachinko balls."

"I never wanted to be spherical again," Kimberly said, involuntarily stretching as she remember that day.

"Only Adam and I managed to dodge, and Rocky began to play a game of kick the balls with the monster, until it got bored, and Rocky joined the others. Adam lost his cool, and tried to rush the monster, and poof! Adam's a pachinko ball as well, leaving me alone."

"And for once Tommy did something intelligent," Kimberly jumped in, getting a glare from him. "He gathered all of us and teleported to the command center."

"Well, Zedd got bored, and the monster was now fifty feet tall. So Zordon sent me to fight it with the tiger zord while he and alpha worked on restoring the others. They managed to change Rocky back first, which also restored him to his right mind, and he and I ganged up on the monster until the other four were back to normal."

"We beat Pachinko head, returning Ernie's machine, and that was basically it." Aisha finished, laughing.

"But we made him swear off Pachinko, permanently," Tommy said, looking at him.

"What! I kept my promise until today! And I wouldn't have broken it if your students hadn't been curious."

"Hey, don't blame us!" Ethan said defensively. "He can do things to us. Bad things!"

"Like kill us with floss!" Conner added.

"Floss?" Tommy asked him, and Conner once again backed away, eyeing Kimberly carefully.

"Ok, so how exactly was that all my fault? Zedd cast the spell!" Rocky insisted, looking at his friends.

"You kicked me!" Aisha told him.

"And me," Kimberly added. "Did we ever kick him back?"

"Nope," Billy told her.

"Can we kick him back now?" she asked, grinning evilly. Rocky moved his chair a bit away from the table.

"Probably not a good idea," Aisha told her.

"Aww… why not?"

"Well, we might dent my fiancé," she replied.

"You guys are engaged?" Tommy asked, smiling. Rocky and Aisha nodded, Aisha showing the others the ring her finger.

"Congratulations," Kimberly and Trini were squealing, looking at the ring while the guys clapped Rocky on the back.

"So when's the wedding?" Billy asked them.

"There will be a wedding right? You're not just going to randomly elope?" Tommy insisted.

"Of course. We're not sure when though," Aisha responded, laughing.

"Why would we elope?" Rocky asked.

"Well, Trini and Jason did," Zack told them.

"You did what?" Adam blurted, looking at the two of them. Trini showed him her wedding band.

"Guilty," she giggled, snuggling against her husband. "One week ago in Las Vegas."

"Congratulations. Any more secrets we should know about?" Aisha joked.

"Other than the fact that Billy's been back on earth for the past four years," Kimberly told them.

"You've been what?" Rocky yelled, mimicking his friend.

"You mean to say you've been home and didn't say anything?" Adam said, laughing.

"I thought you guys would be upset," Billy told them. "I know I know. Bad Billy, bad Billy," he joked. Shaking his head.

Tommy smiled. He couldn't believe how things were working out. Everyone began joking and laughing. He couldn't help but get swept up in the moment. Even the teens were enjoying laughing and joking, and he didn't mind it one bit that they were sharing this part of life. He'd kept it a secret too long, and it wasn't until Kimberly accidentally yawned, and leaned her head against his arm, that he realized he regretted putting the past behind him.

He wasn't sure she'd realized what she'd done, because if she did, she wasn't doing anything about it. She just continued to lean back against him as if things didn't change, and instead of correcting her, he let her. Everyone would occasionally glance at them while they sat, but no one said anything, although Trini was grinning from ear to ear every time she turned to talk to them.

"So, what were you guys doing before we showed up?" Aisha asked, looking up at her friends.

"Lunch, teasing the guys, you know, the usual," Kimberly told her, laughing.

"But before that it was still story time," Trent told them all.

"And you left off at a cliff hanger!" Kira whinned.

"No, no more story time tonight. How about dinner?" Tommy suggested, looking around at the group.

"Actually, we've got some things to do, but since we're staying in the same hotel, I'm sure we'll see you there?" Rocky asked the others. Everyone nodded, hugs and handshakes were exchanged, and the three departed.

"What about you guys? Anyone up for a late meal?"

"I think I'll skip tonight. I'm rather tired," Kimberly told them, sitting up and yawning. Tommy, suddenly devoid of the warmth on his shoulder, frowned, but nodded.

"I'm with Kimberly. Today has been one very hectic, and very crazy day," Billy told them.

"Not my fault," Tommy retorted, getting looks from everyone. "Ok, not entirely my fault. But yeah, maybe food isn't a great idea."

"What are you talking about? Of course food is a good idea," Jason retorted.

"So we're split again?" Kira asked, and Trini nodded.

"Alright, here's the plan, since its still fairly early. Anyone who wants to take a nap can come with me, and anyone who wants food can go with Tommy; sound like a plan?"

"Definitely," Conner responded.

"Ok, who's going to food?" Jason asked. He, Tommy, Conner, Ethan, and Zack all raised their hands, leaving Kimberly, Trini, Billy, Kira, and Trent to head back to Trini's place.

"Ok, there it is then. We'll meet at the park at nine?" Kimberly asked the group. Everyone nodded, and looked at their watches. That gave both groups three hours, and with Kira yawning, those three hours were going to be well used. All ten headed out to the parking lot, and piled into the respective cars. By the time Trini and the others were back at her place, they were all nearly half asleep.

Billy retreated to the guest room, while Kimberly followed Trini into her bedroom, leaving Kira and Trent in the living room. Before long, all five were sound asleep, Trini setting the alarm for about eight o'clock, so they'd all be ready in time.

* * *

Ok, hope you all enjoyed. I've already formulated the plot for the next chapter, and things are going to start getting interesting between Kimberly and Tommy. Parks at night can be very dangerous places for people to go when they don't want to fall in love again. Again, hope you enjoyed, and the next chapter should be up soon.  
FatelessWanderer 


	10. Ressurection of an old friend?

I finished this last night, but I was way to exhausted to post. I'm still too exhausted and I feel a relapse of whatever illness I had on Monday and Tuesday coming back, but oh well, gotta work to bring the money in. But anyway, back to the point. More of a sentimental chapter, although it does have its good bit of laughter. I'm in a very lazy mood at the moment, so editing isn't the best. I'm going to go back this week and do editing on all ten chapters, so have no fear, it will all be corrected. Still, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Tommy sat at a table for five people at a local fast food restaurant. With less than three hours to find food, and make it to the park, the older rangers had opted for something quick. Especially when Jason reminded them that Trini could and would make their lives hell for the next two weeks if they were late.

Sitting across from him were Conner and Ethan who had taken it upon themselves to throw French fries back and fourth, while Jason and Zack watched, sending questioning looks at the man who looked like he was trying to disappear in his seat. He couldn't believe the two in front of him were supposed to be eighteen year olds.

"Make them go away," he mumbled to himself, and whatever god it was that had chosen to abandon him at that moment, or more precisely every moment that had occurred while they were in Angel Grove, or from when he was in Angel Grove. Yes, that's when the whole mess started.  
"Make who go away?" Zack asked him, overhearing his friends mumblings, an amused look on his face. Tommy just stared at him for a moment, and shook his head, before looking back at the man who was about to add something.

"Don't even say it."

"Say what?"

"You know exactly what, Mr. Taylor."

"No really, what?"

"You were thinking about me being their father."

"No I wasn't. But you were! Ha! I win!"

Tommy just dead panned and looked at Jason with a pleading look. Jason just smirked and shook is head, sipping the chocolate shake in his hands and peaking one eye at Ethan beside him.

"Are you sure he was blue?"

Tommy sighed and nodded, looking very much defeated and embarrassed. "Just one more time? That's all I ask. Let me do it once more and I'll never ask for anything else as long as I live," Tommy muttered so low that no one could hear him. Or at least he didn't think anyone could hear him. Unfortunately, Conner choose the worse points in time to actually listen to what his science teacher was saying.

"Dr. O? You wishing you could be invisible ag-" Ethan cut him off with a nice sharp elbow to the stomach, which went unnoticed, as Conner had a coughing attack.

"Conner? You alright? Come on, your drinks empty and there's a water fountain over there," Ethan added, helping Conner to his feet, and pulling him towards the source of cold water, far away from the table where two former rangers were staring at their friend, who had a horribly guilty face.

"What?"

"Invisible?" Jason asked him, accusingly, his eyebrows raised.

"Everyone wishes they could be invisible at certain points. I've just been doing it a lot lately," he lied, easily. Zack and Jason looked at him for a second, trying to judge his answer, and then towards the teens. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Jason just shook his head.

"Whatever you say, Bro. But really, maybe you should have gone to sleep, you're looking horrible."

"Gee, thanks. And leave you alone with those two? Are you nuts? Or did morphing yesterday rattle your brains?"

"I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much," was the retort from the man slurping the chocolate shake through three straws, and having a very difficult time of it.

"Sure," Tommy laughed, tossing one of the many wrappers on the table at his friend which resulted in a mini war, with the teenagers watching from the distance.

"Ok, so that really hurt, you know," Conner complained to Ethan, from their position beside the water fountain. Ethan just nodded, not taking his eyes off their science teacher and his friends. "Are you even listening?"

"Sorry," Ethan mumbled at looked at him. "You nearly ruined it. He'd have more reason to kill you when this is over."

"What makes you think he'd wait until it was over?" Conner asked him, still massaging sore ribs and a new bruise. He was going to be the next rainbow colored ranger if the weeks kept going as they were.

Ethan simply nodded towards the older man who was laughing along with his two friends. This was a side they had yet to ever see. Sure in the past two days he'd be laughing and joking around, but never once had he completely let his guard down. Well, Ethan supposed he had during his late night escapade with the Swedish giantesses, but it was the first time he'd noticed a genuinely relaxed Dr. Oliver. It was actually as if there were two separate individuals. The one they knew as Dr. O, and the one his friends knew as Tommy.

"He does look relaxed, doesn't he?" Conner asked his friend who simply nodded.

"It's a shame he's not like this more often. Anyway, we should get back or Zack and Jason will get even more suspicious."

"Right. And do me a favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"Don't tell Trent or Kira that you punched me in the stomach?"

"Awww… but it was fun." Ethan insisted, leading the way back to the table, as Conner hit him in the back of the head.

* * *

"Kira? Kira, wake up."

A very sleepy former yellow ranger cracked one eye to see her boy friend smiling down at her. She was curled up against his side at the base of Trini and Jason's couch and the only adults around were locked up, also asleep, in their own rooms.

"Why?" she mumbled, yawning and snuggling in closer to him, refusing to actually wake up. Trent sighed and shook her lightly, but she only groaned, trying to ignore her annoying boyfriend.

"Because if you don't the others are going to come out here and see you clinging to Trent, and they're going to tell Tommy," came a new voice and Kira's eyes flew open as she bolted up right and looked straight at Billy.

"I-I-we – I mean," she stammered, trying to place as much distance between Trent and herself as she could without literally running out of the room. The two guys just laughed, quietly.

"I know. You weren't doing anything. Don't worry, I won't say anything," Billy laughed, sitting down on the couch. Trent pulled himself off the floor and joined him, glancing at his watch. They still had at least a hour before they had to be at the park.

"Thanks," Trent told him, as Kira came back over, nodding, and sitting at his feet, her head propped on the end of the cushion. "So what'd you want to talk to us about?" he asked, and Kira just looked confused. Oh, right. She must have been asleep for that part.  
"Well, I was sort of wondering, why exactly you and Conner got into the punching fight yesturday. I have an idea, but I need you to confirm it." Both teens just tensed up and looked at one another, an unsure look on his face. "Look, I won't tell Tommy; especially not if its why I think it is."

Trent just sighed and looked at Kira, who nodded. If anyone could tell them what they should and shouldn't do, it was Billy. "Go ahead," Kira whispered to her boyfriend, patting his knee.

"Conner wanted to try to get Dr. O and Kimberly back together," Trent stated. "We disagreed, and it escalated."

"That's what I thought," Billy said, shaking his head and looking towards Trini's bed room door. "Ok, you guys need to stay out of it," he told them simply. Kira frowned. That was it? No explanation? No nothing?

"But?" she protested, until he cut her off.

"Tommy could punish you if you get caught. Leave it to Trini, Jason, Zack, and I," he replied, a grin on his face.

"You mean…" Trent began, catching on to the older man's thoughts. Billy nodded.

"Yeah, we're working on having them back together by the end of next week. Just don't do anything. This has to be done very, very carefully."

"Understood," Kira replied. She and Trent would get the information to Conner and Ethan later.

"What's understood?" Trini asked, coming into the living room, stretching, the petite, former pink ranger behind her.

"Oh, nothing. Just that any stories we may tell before we get to the park do not get repeated around our fearless leader," Billy laughed. Kimberly grinned and fell into one of the arm chairs beside the television.

"I'm still sleepy. Do we have to go to the park?" she begged. Trini just nodded, and yawned.

"We're all sleepy, but we're going," she told her. "Come on, you remember the park at night."

"All too well, thank you very much," Kim retorted, glaring.

"What's wrong with the park at night?" Trent asked, looking a bit confused.

"Well, for one, the occasional monster attack, and two its actually pretty romantic. Oh, and just think Tommy will be there," Trini cooed, until a pillow was tossed at her head.

"We'll be lucky if we make it to friends by next week at this rate, Trin," Kimberly retorted.

"Ooo… she said lucky. Hoping for more Kim?" Billy asked her. Kimberly just sighed and shook her head, before getting up and walking over to the mantle piece where there was a picture of the six of them. She stared at it for a second and then turned back to her two former teammates.

"No, I think I'd just be happy if we were friends."

"You aren't happy now, are you?" Kira asked her, catching on to the situation. Kimberly just shook her head. "Well, Dr. O's a butt head if he doesn't want to be your friend."

"Kira, sweetie, I don't think its that simple," Trent told her. Kira just glared at him.

"No, I agree. Tommy's being a butt head," Billy answered, causing everyone to laugh.

"But things went well this afternoon, didn't they?" Trini asked, taking a seat beside Billy on the couch, and looking at her friend who had resumed her position in the arm chair.

"After this mornings mishap, yeah. But it just seems like we do something in the right direction, and then take a massive step back, before regaining the footing again. We're not going anywhere at this rate."

"Tell Jason. He'll knock some sense into him," Trini replied.

"As well as knocking out a few of his teeth," Kimberly retorted. "Personally, I'd rather him have all of those."

"Why? Friends don't need teeth?" Billy pointed out, slightly curious. Kimberly just glared, and when he started laughing, she tossed the pillow at him which he tossed back.

"We should get going," Trini pointed out. Billy and the kids nodded, but Kimberly just grinned.

"Wait a minute, I want to try something." She reached into her purse and pulled out a shiny silver bracelet that in some ways resembled a watch, and in others could never have been mistaken for one.

"Oh my god, you brought that?" Trini laughed.

"What is it?" Trent asked, leaning over Kira to see what it was. She pushed him off her, trying to get a better look herself.

"Its her old communicator," Billy answered, holding his hands out to his friend. She nodded, and handed it to him. Billy lifted the small piece of equipment in front of his face, and began to study it for a moment. "Crudely made; gaudy looking; never would have passed for a watch if people actually checked; and very flimsy; it's a wonder it stood up to all those battles; although, all the frequency trouble we had with these doesn't surprise me," Billy rattled off, critiquing every inch of the silver piece. The teens just stared at him.

"How can you say that? How can you let him?" Kira asked Kimberly and Trini.

"He can say whatever he wants. He made them," Trini replied.

"Some of my earliest work," Billy nodded, handing the piece back to Kimberly. "What did you want to try?"

"Well, do you have yours here Trini?" Kimberly asked the taller woman. Trini nodded, and moved off to the side where the basement door was located and motioned for the others to follow her. As soon as the door was opened, barking began, and Trini shook her head.

"Alpha! Zordon! Quiet!" she laughed, walking down the stairs, as the dogs immediately fell silent. "They're trained to keep barking anytime someone comes down here. They only stop if Jason or I tell them too." The others nodded, as they followed. Down in the basement was the home gym the two had set up. It appeared that each had his or her own equipment set up in precisely the way they needed it. At the far side was a heavy steel door, with a huge pad lock. Or at least what looked like a pad lock.

"Your kidding, right?" Kimberly asked her laughing. Trini shook her head, and placed her finger on the lock. The door released, and let them into a small room, no bigger than three feet by three feet. There was a small table on one wall, with two chairs, and several files, all pertaining to power rangers. At the back was a small safe. She turned the combination, and then placed her eye in front of a scanner.

"Retinal scan?" Billy asked her. "How did you manage to have that put in without people getting suspicious? And don't you think you're going a bit over board?"

"I have a friend who works for the government. He set it up, no questions asked. And maybe, but better safe than sorry. If Jason had his way, he'd walk around with this as his belt buckle," Trini replied, reaching into her pocket pulling out Jason's morpher, power coin in place, and handed it to Billy.

Billy tested its weight in his hands for a minute, laughing, before handing it to Kimberly, who examined it just as he had, running her fingers over every little crack, mainly staring at the intact gold coin with the Tyrannosaurus engraved on it. She smiled, before passing it to Trent and Kira.

Both teens were in shock to see one of the original morphers. Perfectly intact, with a power coin in place. They were both studying it. "Jason brought it to the hotel with him, means he had to get it from the safe?" Kimberly asked her, slightly amused. Trini had her head buried in the safe, obviously searching through things.

"Yeah; he takes it out every few days, hoping I won't notice. Generally he'll accidentally leave it in is pants and I'll find it when I do laundry. I stole it back from him while he was sparring Tommy this morning," she replied. "Ah, here it is," she said, pulling out her old communicator, and blowing a bit of dust off it. "Did you want to see if they still work?"

"Yeah, and I want to set them off at the park. Watch and see if Jason, Tommy, and Zack still react," Kimberly grinned evilly. Trini smiled back and looked at her communicator and the buttons on the right side. The correct combination of them pressed would contact each communicator and holding all three down would send it to all of them. Lets see, Jason was the top button; Billy was the bottom; Zack was the middle; She was the top and middle at the same time; and Tommy had been added last as the top and bottom together; so that meant that Kimberly's was the bottom and middle at the same time. Trini placed her fingers on the communicator and Kimberly's went off with the characteristic series of six tones. Both girls smiled.

"Oh, we can do better than that," Billy told them, from where he had taken Trini's place by the safe. He pulled out a disk another communicator from the safe.

"And it involves Jason's communicator, how?" Kimberly asked him, sitting in one of the chairs, as the teens handed back the morpher. They'd been attempting to follow the conversation, but were getting confused without watching. Billy let his voice drop to a whisper as he explained his plan to his former teammates. "I feel like I should have my hair in a pony tail, and be wearing a pair of stretch shorts and a t-shirt," Kimberly said sarcastically.

"I agree," Trini replied, and Billy got to work. "But it's so going to be worth it."

"I have a feeling Dr. O is going to regret this vacation even more by the end of tonight," Kira told Trent, giggling at Billy's idea. Trent just grinned. He agreed with Trini. It would be so worth it.

* * *

"We're not late, are we?" Tommy asked Jason for the hundredth time, as they walked towards the children's play equipment in the middle of the park. Trini had called a bit earlier to tell that that's where they'd meet up. Jason just shook his head and glared at his friend.

"No, get a grip."

"You're sure?"

"If we are, I'm blaming it on you. Now stop asking," Jason demanded, placing some distance between himself and his very agitated best friend. It was funny when he'd first started being paranoid, and now, well now it was just the most irritating thing in the entire world. What he wouldn't do to get his hands on his power sword at that moment.

Tommy just went quiet, but shot glares at Conner and Ethan when the teen started snicker. Even Zack was laughing, but the glares didn't work on him as well as they worked on the kids; he was learning that rapidly.

They finally reached the equipment, only to see Billy and Trini standing against it in deep conversation, while Kira and Trent sat on the swings talking even more. They seemed excited about something. Tommy's eyes fell on the middle figure, who was seated on the edge of the equipment, her hair loose, leaning back on her hands, head tilted up to the sky.

"Hey guys," Trini called, waving, when she noticed the group walking towards them. Kimberly turned her attention to them, only to smile, when her eyes fell on Tommy, who unconsciously had stopped walking at was just staring at her. Damn moonlight.

Jason was already on top of Trini, kissing her; Conner and Ethan had joined their teammates by the swings, Conner avoiding Kira, explaining that she was the only one that hadn't bruised him, and he would rather not add another scratch to his already shattered ego. Kira just narrowed her eyes, and asked why he was telling her, then.

Zack finally realized that Tommy was in danger of making a huge fool out of himself; especially if anyone actually realized he was staring, and gently nudged him, as he passed. Tommy stumbled, and looked at his friend.

"You were starting to drool."

"Was not."

"Whatever. Moonlight does her good, doesn't it?"

"Unfortunately," Tommy admitted, following him the remaining distance. "Beautiful, isn't it," he asked her, pulling himself up beside him, and nodding toward the moon.

"Yeah," she replied simply, feeling slightly uncomfortable, and at the same time, knowing that maybe this is where she would be most comfortable. "To war wounds this time? Everyone got along ok at dinner?"

"Yeah; Just like old times," he replied, and immediately regretted it. "Sorry."

Kimberly just nodded. Of course things had gone smoothly. They weren't both there. "It know."

"Hey, you two gonna whisper all night, or are you going to join the rest of us?" Conner called towards them, as the rest of the group was sitting in the grass in the distance. Kira smacked him upside the head, causing the rest of them to laugh. "What? What'd I do?"

"Coming!" Kimberly called back, hopping off the platform, and turning back to Tommy. "Gonna join us?" she offered. Tommy seemed to consider it for a moment, but then shook his head.

"I think I'll stay here, its nice."

"Want company?"

"Sure," he replied, pulling his legs back and leaning against the bars, allowing Kim to climb back up. She slipped around and seated herself, beside him, her back to the others as well.

"So, they're not coming?" Ethan asked.

"Leave them," Jason responded. "We'll finish that story for you guys, if you want."

"Yes please," Kira put in, turning her attention away from her science teacher and his… well, she didn't know what Kimberly was to Tommy, and she was pretty sure that he didn't know either.

"Well, now there were three really big problems. One, we still had no Zordon; Two, we still had no idea who the green ranger was; and three, there was a fifty foot tall Goldar rampaging through downtown Angel Grove," Trini began the story.

"He tried to eat Bulk and Skull," Billy tossed in.

"Should have let him," Zack laughed and Trini hit him lightly, before laughing a bit herself.

"So, we took on the one problem we could; we formed the megazord, and went to work on Goldar. While we were gone though, the green ranger snuck back into the command center, and tried to undo all the work we'd done since he first destroyed it. Billy had set Alpha up with a few things, just in case, and this time, Alpha trapped him in a stasis shield which was pretty good for the time."

"Trini's right; but unfortunately, our technology, and Rita's magic were too different things. She freed the green ranger, and grew him to the same size as Goldar, and he began to attack us as well, along with Scorpina. So we're talking three on one," Jason emphasized.

"Ouch," Conner winced at the though of the situation.

"You've no idea. Ok, well, maybe you do; but yeah… ouch was right."

"Anyway, Rita decided to cut off our power by eclipsing the sun. We got an energy boost from the power sword, but we still collapsed, due to the ferocity of their attack," Billy described, shaking his head. "The zords separated, and fell into a burning hole in the ground; we had no other choice but to beat a hasty retreat."

"The only good that came of the whole situation, was that we had one answer. Alpha had managed to scan the green ranger while he was in the stasis shield; that's how we found out it was Tommy."

"What'd you do?" Ethan asked.

"Only thing we could; sent in Kim," Trini laughed. "No, she just felt she needed to confront him. She told him we knew who he was at the youth center; she wasn't in danger. Just like us, he wouldn't do anything in a public place. All he did was swear that we were going down."

"A little later, things got worse. Tommy used his dragon dagger to summon the Dragonzord, which began to destroy whatever buildings were still left down town, which wasn't many," Zack told them. "Good news was, we got Zordon back, and with him the power and the megazord; we didn't waste any time getting back to the battle, and trying to stop Tommy."

"We managed to destroy the sword of darkness, which freed him, though it left him more disoriented than I'd ever seen him again," Jason told them. "And he remembered everything. The rest is history; offered him a place on the team, and now he's the "greatest living power ranger."

"We should get all the credit. Saving his ass and all," Zack laughed. Jason just nodded and Trini shook her head, while Billy grinned.

"They have a point," he told her. Trini just laughed at his comment, and leaned back against Jason.

"What about you guys? Any fun and interesting times with Tommy?" she asked the teens.

"Fun?"

"We're talking about Dr. O, right?"

"Look," Trini interrupted, nudging Billy and pointing. Tommy had his arms wrapped around the petite frame of the former pink ranger. The teens just stared in shock; but the other four adults were grinning. This was very good.

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kimberly asked, looking over at the group for a moment before turning back to Tommy.

"Us maybe," came the reply. He didn't look at her, or the others, just up at the moon above them.

"Think maybe we should talk about us?" she asked him, focusing her eyes on his face. He shrugged for a moment and looked at her.

"What in particular?"

"Like maybe how we're both sitting here, ten years older than the last time we were here, and even though we're side by side, there's a huge rift that we can't seem to bridge," she snapped at him, slightly agitated that he didn't seem to care very much. He turned and glared at her for a moment, before letting his gaze soften just slightly.

"I didn't cause the rift," he snapped simply.

"I know," she replied softly, looking a bit hurt, but knowing in her heart, she didn't have the right to. "I was scared."

"What?" he asked, confused by her answer.

"I was scared."

"Of what?" he asked her. He'd never known her to be afraid of anything. She was Kimberly, the first pink ranger, the one that would face hell and more.

"Of us. Of what could happen. Of what was going to happen if we stayed that serious. Tommy, I was afraid of love."

"Of Love?" he asked her, and she nodded, letting a tear slip from her eye. "Jason was right; there wasn't anyone else, was there?" She shook her head, and let the first sob fall. Tommy just shook his head. "Don't cry."

"I hurt you so badly."

"Not that badly," he retorted, protecting his pride. She just laughed a bit. "See, that's better. Now stop," he ordered. She whipped her eyes and looked up at him. He wasn't smiling, he was frowning, or glaring, or anything else. He was just looking at her. Studying her. "You were just scared of love?" She nodded. "Well, that was stupid."

"What?"

"It was. We were seventeen. We're all scared of love; I was shaking in my shoes every time you touched me. Why do you think Rocky avoided Aisha like the plague back then? He was afraid of what would happen. But I didn't run; you did. I'd never known you to run before."

"I'm sorry. In my mind, I just thought that I'd rather be facing a hundred Lord Zedd's than admit to myself that I was in love."

"And now?"

"Now what?" she asked him, tilting her head to the side. He just looked at her, his eyebrows raised. She sighed and shook her head. "I'm not a teenager anymore. Neither are you. I'm still scared; but I don't run anymore."

"But you did back then?"

"Yes; I told you that. Why do you keep asking?" she pushed harshly, turning back to look at the sky.

"I'm just trying to get it all straight. I've wanted to know what happened for the past ten years, alright," he snapped back.

"You've been thinking about it for the past ten years? About me?"

"Of course. What'd you expect?" he asked, confused. Kimberly just shrugged. "Did you think I'd just let it go?"

"Well, I'd hoped."

"I did move on; eventually. I've been in love with other women before," he told her, and looked at her frown. "No, don't give me that. I'm allowed to fall in love. You dumped me. But either way, I never stopped thinking about what exactly went wrong. What I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything," she retorted, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It was all me. All me and being a stupid teenager."

"But I thought it was me. I've been living with that guilt for the past ten years. Its not an easy thing to forget, Kimberly," he told her. She sighed and nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"I know," he replied. "And I'm sorry too," he added.

"For what?" she asked him.

"For not coming after you. For not bringing you back. For ever letting you leave. For not at least staying friends."

"Friends?" she asked him and he nodded. "Can we have another go at that?"

"A relationship? Kim, I don't think-"

"No; at a friendship. You were my best friend back then; when I gave you up, I get up more than a relationship. I gave up my confidant."

"I agree," he told her with a nod. "Of course we can be friends. I don't think I could have left here with less," he laughed a bit. Kimberly smiled, and threw her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek as Trini had the first time she'd latched onto him. It felt good to be able to do that without thinking it would be awkward.

He was a bit surprised at first, but just wrapped his arms her small frame, enjoying how it felt to have her back in his arms again. He breathed in the scent of her hair and closed his eyes, pulling back a tear, even though he heard her quietly sobbing. Yeah, friends. That's exactly what he wanted, he thought to himself, kicking himself for his friends. Better than nothing though.

"Come, lets go break up their little congregation. If I'm right, they've finished the story of my conversion from the undefeatable bad guy to the undefeatable good guy," he said, trying to lighten the mood. Kimberly pulled back and nodded, whipping her eyes again, and smiled.

"Undefeatable?"

"Of course."

"Oh I'm so sure," she said sarcastically, giggling, as he helped her off the equipment, and they both walked over to the group, Tommy taking a seat between Zack and Jason, while Kimberly sat near Billy; ignoring the looks their friends were giving them.

"Um… hi guys," Trini said, looking back and fourth between her friends.

"Hi," Kimberly responded easily.

"What was that?" Zack asked bluntly.

"What was what?" Tommy responded, same tone as his former girlfriend.

"Never mind," Jason said, shaking his head. Obviously neither was in the mood to explain. He'd get it out of his friends later; probably be easier without the teens present. Maybe slip Tommy some alcohol. "So what do you all want t-" He was about to ask what everyone was interested in doing for the time being but was cut off by a very familiar sound. His heart stopped as six steady tones rang out through the air in one of the most familiar patterns his ears had ever heard. His face drained of all color, as his eyes darted from his own bare wrist to the faces of his friends. Zack looked worried; Tommy looked like he might wet himself at any given moment; Kimberly and Trini were both frowning; And Billy's eyes were planted on Kimberly's purse and Zack's wrist, as they appeared to be the only ones who had theirs. Truth be told, Billy's was back at the hotel, as was Tommy's: buried deep in the box marked for Conner to stay away, which was locked in the safe in the room. At the sound, all of them were on their feet, except Zack.

"What was that?" Conner asked, basically stating the question that all the adults wanted to ask as Kimberly reached into her purse and pulled out her communicator. She held it out to Jason and Tommy. They were the leaders, they should answer.

"O-our communicators," Tommy squeaked, taking the devise from Kimberly's hand. Zack already had his wrist raised, waiting to see if he should answer, fear displayed all over his face. Tommy looked at his friends, all who bit their lips nervously and nodded.

"I-I read you," he replied unsteadily into the speaker, not saying his name in case someone had found their frequency.

"Rangers!" A loud booming voice resounded over the wavelengths, causing Tommy's mouth to fall open in utter panic. It was now Jason's turn to look as if he were trying not to wet himself in fright. Zack was completely white. The teens studied all of them, noticing Trini and Kim kept their eyes locked on the white and red leaders, while Billy maintained his gaze on the white ranger.

"Zordon?" Jason asked, leaning over Tommy's shoulder.

"Ranger's there's a disturbance in Angel Grove park," the voice answered. Immediately the white and red rangers were searching their area with terrified eyes. What the hell was going on? Zack appeared to be struggling to maintain consciousness. Kimberly and Trini hadn't changed expressions, but Billy took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself.

"Where? We're at the park? And Lord Zedd is gone! YOU'RE GONE!" Tommy stated, still searching. If Zordon said there was a problem, then there was a problem; despite the fact that Zordon was gone. Jason was no longer standing beside him; instead he was on his feet, searching his pockets for the morpher he'd put there that morning, and coming up completely empty handed.

"It's worse than Lord Zedd."

"Who is it?" Jason called over his shoulder. Zack was nearly gone by that point. He was staring at his wrist, his face devoid of color, his body slightly shaking.

"It's the blue ranger," came a new voice over the speaker. Jason and Tommy turned to look at the former blue ranger who was sitting between Kimberly and Trini, holding Jason's communicator in his hands, laughing his ass off along with the two female rangers. The two former ranger leader's faces were classic of 'what the fuck' and completely totally scared shitless at the exact same time. Zack still seemed to be processing everything, as he joined the other two looking between the yellow, pink, and blue rangers, who had begun rolling on the floor.

"Did you see his face?"

"His face? What about Zack?"

"And Jason? Oh man, that was priceless."

"I think he nearly wet himself."

"I think he did!"

"We should have brought a camera."

And it went on and on for several minutes, the three male rangers, completely speechless as they tried to wrap their consciousnesses around the information that was being fed to them so quickly.

"I-I- you- is there a reason you did that?" Jason finally managed to ask his wife. Trini just shrugged through her laughter.

"It was Kimberly's idea."

"Hey, I just wanted to see what would happen if it went off. The whole recording thing was Billy's idea," the former pink ranger responded, between her own giggles.

"We hate you," Tommy muttered. "Look what you did to Zack!"

The black ranger was still staring at his wrist, and then back at Billy, and back to his wrist, and then at Billy, as if things weren't really clicking. "But- but- but?"

"Relax buddy," Jason told his friend, patting him on the back. "It wasn't really Zordon. It was an idiotic blue ranger, and his pink and yellow counterparts."

"Awww… is the big bad red ranger's ego hurt?" Kimberly teased.

"No."

"Admit it, you were terrified."

"Well duh!" he stated bluntly, turning to look at his best friend. "Tommy, I don't like your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend!" Tommy and Kimberly shouted at the same time, causing Jason to blink.

"Um… ok. Ex-girlfriend! Ex-girlfriend! Don't kill me!" Jason whimpered, as Kimberly glared down at him. She'd managed to apologized. Managed to be his friend, and there was no way that some stupid idiot was going to ruin it for her. Besides, Jason was already rattled. Kimberly just smiled sweetly and nodded.

"What the hell just happened?" Ethan asked, looking back and fourth from a blushing Tommy, a grinning Kimberly, a stunned Jason, a terrified Zack, a laughing Trini, and a self satisfied Billy.

"Ethan, its simple. Billy, Kim, and Trini pretended that their old mentor was contacting them via their old communicators, which scared the pants off Dr. O, nearly put Zack in a shock coma, and had Jason about to rush off in morphed form to fight whatever was supposedly attacking. As a result, his scared mind moved too slowly for his mouth, and he blurted out that Kimberly was still Dr. O's girlfriend, causing her to nearly kill him," Kira replied.

"How did you know all that?" Tommy asked her simply. He'd been part of the whole thing, and he barely understood what had just taken place. Not to mention the fact that his brain was still in morph then panic mode.

"Trent and I were there when they devised the plan. Got to see Jason's old morpher," she responded.

"How did you get my morpher? I had it in my pants pocket," Jason asked, slightly stunned.

"Oh Jason, relax. I took it while you were sparring. Its back in the safe at home with mine, my communicator, Alpha's program disks, some of the file disks, and the recordings," Trini told him, with a bit of a laugh. He gave her a look that said I don't believe you. "Jason, no one but me was near you ass," she stated bluntly, causing him to glow bright red.

"I know that," he snapped.

"Besides, the only man's pockets Kira's thinking about are Trent's," Conner put in, getting a kick in the shin from Kira, and a punch in the stomach from Trent. "Ok, shutting up now," he wheezed, as he backed into Ethan who helped steady him.

"That's it! I don't want you two anywhere near each other for the rest of the trip," Tommy yelled, stepping between the teenage yellow and white rangers, a horrified look on their faces.

"Dr. O!" Kira shouted, trying to get around him.

"Not even in the same hotel," he stated, shaking his head.

"Tommy?" Trini called. The former multi-colored ranger turned his head to look at her. She and Kimberly were staring at him, hands on hips, glaring at him.

"On second thought, just keep your hands in your own pockets," he replied, stepping away from them. Kira grinned at the two former ranger women, and sighed.

"Can we go get sleep now that we're done making blackmail opportunities for the teenagers?" Trent asked the adults, indicating how tired they all were.

"Black mail?" Tommy asked.

"We could tell Haley," Kira reminded him, yawning. Tommy just groaned, as the group walked toward the vehicles. Oh yes, it was going to be a very long vacation.

* * *

Poor Tommy. Everyone's driving him nuts, and its only Monday. Oh well, that's what characters are for. Hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter is a reappearance of our three friends, and Ethan and Conner go missing. I'll post asap. And I'm pretty sure I can break a hundred reviews, but lets see who can be reviewer 100! A special present to whoever it is. If you put any one question about the fic that you really want answered, and you're reviewer 100, and you leave a contact, I WILL answer it completely.  
Happy reviewing!  
Fatelesswanderer 


	11. Jason's Unfortunate Affair

And now, because you guys are my favorite readers, and you gave me all those wonderful reviews, I shall continue the story. This one has been read and re-read several times, so I hope there aren't too many errors; I apologize in advance for any that may arise.

* * *

Sunlight gently crept through the cracked curtains that lined the only window in the hotel room. Unfortunately, said window was directly in line with one of the beds, where a man slept, only clad in a pair of black boxers, breathing gently, his face tilted towards the glass, and his back to the other man in the second bed. The moment the sun hit his face, he groaned, blinking his eyes, willing it away, praying for just a few more minutes of sleep.

However, the sun wouldn't relent, and he found himself pushing up to his knees and looking over at his still sleeping companion. He frowned at the man, mentally commanding his friend to get up; but the other man seemed to have forgotten the use of telepathy, so the first was forced to resort to more violent ways of getting people up. He reached down to the floor, and picked up a shoe just before launching the heavy object at the second man's head.

"Get up," he stated as the shoe made direct contact with the sleeper's forehead.

"What the fuck was that for," the second asked, now very much awake, and slightly irritated. He was still lying on his back, rubbing his forehead, but he turned to look at his former friend.

"You wouldn't wake up," the first retorted, causing the second to glare at him.

"Well, did you try saying 'Jason, get up?'; cause that would have worked just fine," Jason responded, struggling to sit up. "No, you didn't. You just threw a shoe at my head."

"You dumped ice down my pants," Tommy told him, getting out of the bed, and stretching before throwing the curtains open and letting the sunlight soak the room. Jason blinked at the sudden change in light.

"You deserved that."

"Just like you deserved the shoe. I'm going to take a shower before your wife calls to check if we're awake," he told his friend, disappearing into the bathroom. "And answer it this time. I don't need her yelling at me later."

"Sorry, I didn't realize she'd think I died," Jason called back, leaning against the bed's head board, and turning on the TV: Football, soap operas, cartoons, news. He turned up the volume on the television when he hit the news station.

"…And in other news, with the upcoming Power Ranger Day celebration, its no surprise to the citizens that two power rangers were spotted near the Angel Grove Inn, Sunday night…"

"Oh shit," Jason mumbled as the news cast showed video footage of Jason and Zack running down the street, stumbling slightly, being chased by two huge women. "So not good."

"Eye witnesses say the two rangers appeared slightly disoriented and panicked. Some even claim that they may have been inebriated," the news report continued, and Jason let out a muffled snort. "But it's highly doubtful that the Power Rangers would even drink."

"Don't know us very well, do they," he mumbled to himself as he fished his cell phone out of the pocket of his pants that lay on the floor and began dialing. This was not a good thing.

"Angel Grove now waits in higher anticipation for its celebration, now that the Power Rangers have made it clear that they are back in town." The camera cut away from the reporter and went to chief meteorologist who began to tell them that the weather would be in the nineties that day, and sun screen was advised.

"Hey Zack, Did I wake you? Good; did you see the news this morning? What do you mean you were watching Bob the Builder? Never mind, I don't want to know. Anyway, we have big problems; we were caught on tape, and they just broadcasted it over the news."

The room phone began to ring, and Jason sighed. "Listen, we'll talk later about what to do; Trini's calling the room. Gotta go." He hung up the cell phone and picked up the room phone after the fifth ring, and Tommy's voice yelling at him to answer it from the shower.

"Hello? Hey Trini… Um yeah, I saw it… No please! I'm sorry! but… but… but… Trini will you just listen to me… what... no…. hi kim… no anything but that… what do you want us to do…" Tommy walked back out of the bathroom, one towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands as he dried his hair. He shot a panicked looking Jason a questioning look as he sat down on his bed to listen. "I said we were sorry… no harm done at the moment… yeah… no… please… it was an emergency… no, we weren't that drunk… they don't even think we were… hmm… yeah… he's here…." Jason took the phone from his ear and held it out to Tommy. "Its Kimberly, she wants to talk to you."

Tommy frowned and took the phone, not knowing what was going on. "Hello? What? How was I supposed to know? You will do no such thing Kimberly! Um… no one… please don't… ok… We're really sorry… right… I will… bye." He hung up the phone, shaking slightly and glared at the other man. "I hate you so much right now."

"What'd she say?"

"Oh, nothing except if we ever pull a stunt like Sunday night again, they're going to do something very painful to us."

"Like what?" Jason asked him suspiciously.

"Oh, there was talk of yanking our intestines out through our throats, castration, gender changes… stuff of that nature."

"Remind me to never piss Kimberly off again," Jason shuddered.

"Those were Trini's suggestions," Tommy retorted, as he began to get dressed and Jason winced. "And we've been ordered to meet in the restaurant in thirty minutes, so go shower."

Jason just rolled his eyes, grabbing his things. "Is it even worth it? I mean, she's going to kill me anyway."

"A clean corpse will smell better than a dirty one," Tommy reminded him.

"I'm so glad you're behind me on this."

"You're the one that got caught. So, all of Angel Grove news, huh?"

"Shut it," Jason snapped, slamming the bathroom door shut behind him. Tommy just laughed and shook his head. Wonderful start to a Tuesday morning, wasn't it.

* * *

Kira stepped out of the bathroom as Kimberly slammed the telephone down and crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. Trini looked just as angry as the former pink ranger, if not more so. The television was on a commercial, and both women didn't appear to have started getting dressed while she was in the bathroom taking a shower. She removed the towel from her head as she studied the expressions on their faces.

"What did Dr. O and/or Jason do now?" Kira asked, a small smile on her lips.

"What didn't they do," Kimberly retorted, sighing. "Jason and Zack's little adventure the other night ended up on the news. We're going to have to be really careful around here."

"I wish we could do something to help," Kira told them, pulling her brush through her still damp hair as Trini began to blow dry her own.

"Don't worry Kira. We survived fifteen years of keeping this secret; we can survive the next two weeks," Trini laughed. "And we're not that mad. Its just funny making them sweat."

"Like last night?" Kira asked causing Kimberly to fall over laughing again.

"They will never ever live that one down. Their faces were priceless," Kimberly laughed, as Trini and Kira joined in.

"You don't think we were too hard on them," Trini asked, when the laughing died down.

"About the news thing?" Kimberly asked her, as she put on her makeup for the day. "Not a chance. They deserved it and more," she added, when a steady knock came at the door.

"Kira, could you get that?" Trini asked the younger yellow ranger, who nodded, from where she was tying her left shoe and hopped off her bed bouncing on one foot as she pulled the right shoe on. The teenager pulled the door open a bit and smiled, and then pulled it all the way open.

"Aisha! Hi, come in. Trini, Kimberly, Aisha's here."

Kimberly laughed and turned to see as the two yellow rangers came in out of the door. "Sha, how'd you find us?"

"Not very difficult. Just asked for Ms. Hart's room number… had to use my charm to get the desk boy to tell me though. Rocky wouldn't be too happy," she explained, sitting down on the edge of Kira's bed.

"Did I mention, I like her?" Kira asked, as she finished tying her shoes, and pulled her knees to her chest. Aisha, Trini, and Kimberly laughed.

"So what's up, Aisha?" Trini asked, running her hair brush through her hair.

"Um… the news," the young woman told them. Kimberly and Trini shook their heads. "I guess you saw it too. That was Jason and Zack right? I don't need to kill Adam and Rocky, do I?"

"No, it was Jason and Zack," Kimberly informed her. "Did the guys see?"

Aisha shook her head. "Rocky was in the shower, and I don't know about Adam. He's got his own room next door," she told her friends. Kimberly nodded.

"So Tanya couldn't be here?" Trini asked.

"No, and it's really bothering him. I told him he should just go home if he misses her that much, but she's not home now anyway," Aisha told them. "Kat's in England with the Ballet, and she broke her leg last week, so Tanya flew over to help her. Adam's been going nuts without her," Aisha laughed.

"Only Adam," Trini added.

"Actually, I could so see Rocky and Jason going nuts if you two left them," Kira told them.

"And what about Trent?" Kimberly asked, resulting in Kira sticking her tongue out at her.

"So anyway, what happened the other night? It wasn't an emergency was it?" Aisha asked, turning the conversation back to the news story.

"Oh, nothing that bad. Tommy, Zack, Jason, and Billy all got drunk the other night, and well, Billy got kidnapped by Swedish giantess maids. According to Tommy, the only way to save him was for Jason and Zack to morph."

"Swedish giantesses?" Aisha asked Kim. "You're kidding."

"I wish we were; but that's their story and they're sticking to it." Trini told her. Aisha just shook her head.

"Aren't we supposed to get smarter as time goes on?"

"Probably, but those four may have taken one too many hits to the head," Kimberly told her.

"True… probably killed a bunch a brain cells they didn't need then, but would probably be handy now," Aisha laughed. "Ok, so nothing's wrong. Angel Grove's not in any danger?"

"No; unless you count the fact that the first four male rangers are in town and are causing all sorts of problems, nope," Kira laughed.

"Add Adam and Rocky, and its going to be one crazy time," Kimberly added. Aisha and Trini nodded.

"Alright. I'd better get back before Rocky gets out of the shower, and panics because I'm gone."

"Aisha, we're meeting in the restaurant in a little for breakfast. You guys should join," Trini told her. Aisha just gave a mock salute and left the room.

"I hope this morning isn't foreshadowing a day of hell," Kimberly groaned, lying back on the bed. Kira and Trini just laughed.

"Kim, call Zack and Billy and tell them we're all meeting in the restaurant in fifteen minutes."

* * *

First the sun had come up, causing the room to go from pitch black to a pale grey, as the sunlight seeped under the edges of the thick, dark curtains. That he could ignore. Second was the loud thumping of something hard smacking against something else and then hitting the floor, which was followed by a squeal of pain. He could ignore that too. Third was a shower running, and yelling back and fourth. He figured he could ignore that too. At least until the yelling got louder and more panicky. That was when Trent had finally given up on any chance of sleep, and pulled himself into the shower.

About ten minutes later, he stood in the middle of the boys' room, dressed in a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt, staring at three empty beds. Ok, one was his, so that didn't count. He'd been about to come out of the bathroom to tell Conner and Ethan that they could have their turns in the shower, only to find them gone. He wasn't even sure if they'd left before he'd woken up or after, and truthfully, he didn't care. All he cared about was figuring out why they were missing so that he wouldn't get the blame.

His eyes fell on a piece of paper attached to the TV screen with a short message scribbled onto it, as if it were done in a hurry.

"Trent, Gone out while you were sleeping. Be back later. Tell Dr. O we have chaperones, Ethan and Conner."

Chaperones? What type of chaperones? Oh well, all he had to do was show Dr. Oliver the letter and he'd be off the hook. He'd been asleep when they'd left, so it wasn't his fault that he didn't alert anyone or find out where exactly they were going. He sat down on the bed and began putting his shoes on when Tommy pushed the connecting door open and stuck his head in the room.

"Morning."

"Morning. Dr. O, what the hell was going on in there? I thought I heard Jason shout in pain?"

"I threw a shoe at him," Tommy replied as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"Right… why?"

"He was asleep," the older man told him, looking around the room and frowning. "Where are Conner and Ethan?"

Trent just shrugged as he finished his shoes and held the note out for his science teacher to take from him. Tommy's frown increased as he stepped into the room and took the slip of paper, skimming it rapidly.

"Chaperones! What the hell are those two thinking?" Tommy growled, obviously not really asking and just thinking out loud. Trent just shrugged again. It wasn't it fault.

"I didn't do anything," Trent replied. Tommy just took a deep breath.

"When I get my hands on them, they're staying locked in this room until next Saturday. No way am I going to have them running around Angel Grove unattended."

"I'm sure they're fine Dr. O," Trent told him, trying to calm his teacher down. "I mean, how much trouble could they get into on their own?" Tommy just looked at him as if he'd grown another head. "Dr. O, they're fine. I'm sure of it. Just relax."

"I guess."

"What time's breakfast?" Trent asked, trying to change the subject. Jason poked his head into the room, hearing the question.

"Right now. Hey, where are Conner and Ethan?" he asked, looking around. Trent just smacked his head with his palm as Tommy began ranting about different ways to chain a former power rangers to walls so they couldn't disappear, as the three of them walked out into the hallway, Trent grabbing his room key and stuffing it in his pocket on the way. Jason had one of Tommy's in his pocket, but he was sure the other man had forgotten his due to his tirade against untrustworthy teenagers.

Tommy was still going on about how he would punish Ethan and Conner by the time they stepped off the elevator and saw the three girls already seated at one of the tables inside the restaurant.

"Trent, you go in and tell them I had to knock some sense into a former white ranger. We'll be there in a minute," Jason told the youth, who nodded, and then steered a fuming Tommy into the nearest men's room. He turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on Tommy's face.

"What'd you do that for?"

"You were hysterical," Jason retorted. "Now breathe. There's nothing you can do to Conner and Ethan until we find them," he began, but was interrupted by a groan from Tommy at the thought of having to find Conner and Ethan. "We will find them. They won't have gone far. We'll give them until lunch time," Jason told him. Tommy took a deep breath and nodded. Jason made sense. So what if he'd lost two teenagers in a strange town that was power ranger obsessed. They'd be fine; and if they weren't, heck, two less headaches for him. "You good now?"

"Yeah," Tommy replied as Jason shut the faucet off.

"Good, now get out there and start building a relationship with Kim," Jason told him. Tommy just looked up and glared at him.

"Jason… we're friends. That's all we need to be. That's all we want to be."

"No, you know it as well as I do, you want more, so admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That you still care about her!" Jason snapped.

"This is ridiculous," Tommy hissed, pushing past him and heading towards the bathroom door. Jason pushed him back, and blocked the exit, arms crossed over his chest as he glared back at his friend with a look that dared him to try and leave. Tommy just glared back. "Get out of the way, Jason," Tommy hissed. The former red ranger just adjusted his stance.

"No," he retorted, throwing all the authority he'd had as the first leader behind the one word and his gaze which was locked on his best friends eyes. Tommy held the gaze for a few moments, before sighing and looking away, knowing he'd lost the game of wills. When Jason got it in his head to do something, he did it. It was the reason they were both standing there that day. Jason had decided the evil spell over Tommy was going to be broken, and he'd done just that. Tommy just hoped Jason hadn't gotten it in his head that Kimberly and he would be giving him nieces and nephews, because he would hate to have to fight him.

"Of course I still care about her; but in the same way I care about Trini, and Aisha, and Kat, and Tanya, and even Kira. They're my friends."

"But you could have more."

"I don't want more. And even if I did, she doesn't." Tommy told him. "There's no way to go about it."

"Sure there is," Jason replied. "You take her hand in your own, like this." He picked up Tommy's hand and cupped it in both of his. Tommy just frowned at him. "And then you look into her eyes, and say: I've missed you so much. I've never stopped thinking about over the past ten years. You're always on my mind. I've never stopped caring for you. I've never stopped loving you," he stated as the door swung open, and two men stood in the entrance, eyes wide in shock, bouncing back and fourth between Tommy and Jason's faces to their joined hands. Jason threw down Tommy's hand in disgust, as both began blushing, refusing to meet each other's gaze or the accusing ones of the two men in the door.

"Sorry, did we interrupt something," The first one asked, a grin on his face.

"Shut up, Rocky," Tommy snapped back at him, as Rocky and Adam began laughing.

"Please promise me we're not like those two?" Adam pleaded with Rocky, and Jason punched him in the shoulder.

"I promise. I've already sworn my undying love to 'Sha. Besides, you're not as pretty as Tommy," Rocky told him, grinning. "Although, it looks like Trini has some competition."

"And tough competition too," Adam added, laughing. "Although without his long hair, I don't know."

"Alright, that's enough from both of you," Tommy shot at them as Jason began glowing bright red, but was glaring at the two others.

"Fine fine; we won't tell Trini about your affair, Jason," Rocky snorted.

"That's it!" Jason shouted, lunging at him. It took both Tommy and Adam to pry him off Rocky's neck and pull him back against the counter, causing Rocky to stumble backwards into one of the stalls with a loud bang, when the door hit the side. He barely avoided falling into the toilet seat.

"Cool it, Jase," Tommy stated, calming his furious friend down. "It was a joke and it was your own fault." Jason just growled, as Rocky massaged his neck.

"Jason, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Jason just sighed and shook his head. "Tommy's right. It was my fault. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Who me?" Rocky choked out. "No way. Nothing can hurt a former red ranger," he retorted, causing Jason and Tommy to smile.

"What about the time when Aisha kneed you between the legs when she caught you telling the check out girl you were free that night?" Adam asked him, trying to hide a laugh.

"One: ok, only former yellow rangers can cause former red rangers physical pain. And two: it was so uncalled for," Rocky stated, holding the rest room door open for them to leave.

"Rocky, it was a day after you'd asked her to go out with you," Adam argued. Rocky gave him a look that said 'so what'. "And she made you promise that she was the only one you were interested in."

"Yeah well, I forgot."

"Rocky, if she kneed you, you deserved it," Tommy told him as they approached the table where Aisha, Zack, Billy, Kira, Trent, Kimberly, and Trini were all sitting, having helped themselves to the open buffet already. Rocky just grumbled, causing the others to laugh.

"So Jason, Tommy, get anymore calls from Zordon last night? Putties attacking the park?" Billy asked when they were within hearing ranger. Tommy and Jason blushed a bit and glared at him before taking seats at the table with Adam and Rocky.

"Zordon?" Aisha asked them, causing Kira, Trent, Kimberly, Trini, and Billy to break down laughing. "Ok, I want to know."

"Same here," Adam and Rocky told them, as a waitress set empty plates down in front of the four of them.

"Oh nothing really," Kimberly told them. "Billy, Trini, and I just made Jason, Tommy, and Zack think Zordon was contacting us via our communicators."

"Oh my god, how'd you do that?" Aisha asked.

"Recordings and Jason's old communicator," Billy replied, scooping a bit of food into his mouth.

"I bet it was priceless," Adam told them.

"Tommy wet himself," Trini blurted.

"I did not!"

"Sure you didn't," Kimberly put it. Tommy just mumbled a quiet 'I hate you', as Adam and Rocky gave him strange looks.

"So I'm guessing we've missed tons of entertaining things in the past few days," Rocky stated, laughing a little bit.

"More than you could know," Trini answered. "So, what have you guys been up to?"

"Well, Rocky and I are working at a community center, teaching dance and martial arts. We're also each in charge of a group of after school students. And I'm working on getting my teaching license."

"And I've got a job choreographing fight scenes for movies. Tanya's performing in shows at Universal," Adam told them. "What about you guys?"

"Well, Jason's got his Dojo, and I work part time there, and I also work with the children's mock government. It doesn't do much business during the summer though," Trini explained, sipping her juice. Jason had already disappeared to get food, and returned with a plate full of bagels, donuts, muffins, and a caddy of four coffees, which he passed to Tommy, Adam, and Rocky.

"I'm doing fashion marketing up in New York," Kim put in.

"No gymnastics?" Aisha asked, knowing that was the reason she'd left in the first place. Kim shook her head.

"No, that ended a while ago. I hurt my leg after the pan globals, and while I could still perform, I just didn't have the heart anymore," she informed her friends.

"Dr. O's our science teacher," Kira put in, munching on a muffin, Trent's arm over her shoulder.

"Science teacher?"

"I've got a PhD in Paleontology. Just took the teaching position when a few of my experiment exploded."

"As well as his island," Jason laughed.

"I don't think I want to know," Aisha told them.

"It's a long story. Basically, a bunch of my experiments went bad, island exploded and turned my boss into an evil being bent on world domination, and I ended up the mentor of the latest group of power rangers." Tommy stated.

"Well, that answers that question. What about you guys?" Rocky asked, turning to Zack and Billy.

"I'm in advertising and scouting for a record company," Zack told them. "Nothing big. Its enjoyable, and I'm good at it, so they let me take off whenever I need too."

"Nice," Aisha told him. "What about you Billy? What brings you back to Earth?"

"Working in DC."

"Ok… doing what?" Rocky added.

"Yeah Billy, you haven't told us what you've been doing in Washington," Tommy told him.

"It nothing," Billy put in.

"Come on, nothing could be more embarrassing than Tommy's situation," Trini told him. Tommy just glared at her for a second.

"Really, its nothing."

"Alright, that's it. You're going to tell us, or we're going to give you back to Helga and her twin," Zack threatened. Billy just looked up at him from his plate and stared for a few seconds.

"You wouldn't," he stated.

"Wanna try me?" Zack said.

"Fine; I can't tell you everything though."

"Government job?" Trini asked him. Billy just nodded.

"Awww… our little Billy's all grown up. Working with intelligence?" Kimberly teased. Billy looked at her and then shook his head no.

"No? Billy what are you doing?" Jason asked him, his face entirely serious.

"I'm with the secret service," Billy whispered, causing his friends to laugh. Tommy was the first to stop and look at him.

"Oh god, you're serious aren't you?"

"Dead serious. Now can we change the subject," Billy asked, looking back toward his food.

"No way, you have to explain this one," Trini told him. "You owe us that much for not saying you were back on the planet."

"You're not going to let it go?" Billy pleaded. All of his friends crossed their arms over their chests, and shook their heads. Nope, there was no way out of this one. He took a deep breath, and leaned forward, clasping his coffee mug in between his hands. "Just don't interrupt. The story's hard enough to tell without answering questions," he told them. All his friends nodded. "Three and a half years ago, I was still living on Aquitar working as Earth's sole ambassador, not to mention one of the few earthlings that knows the planet exists. I was happy. I had a wife, and two children. Cestria and I were incredibly happy together, and I never planned on coming back to earth. Things were just too wonderful. One morning, I left for work early. Cestria was going to drop William and Celest off at school and meet me for lunch that day at noon. The appointed time arrived, and there was no sign of her. I gave it about an hour until I knew something was wrong. She was never late, for anything." Billy said, taking a deep breath, refusing to meet the eyes of any of his surprised friends. Billy had a wife? And children? "I called the house, and there was no answer. I called the consulate where she worked. Again, nothing. I called the school, and was told that William and Celest had never gotten there. They weren't in school that day. I left work immediately, charging straight home. And what I saw, I will never forget."

"Billy," Trini whispered, laying her hand on her friends arm, as she saw the tears filling his eyes.

"Thirty houses on our block were gone. All that remained were burnt piles of ash. There were bodies everywhere. Neighbors and friends. The baby who'd been born just weeks before. And I knew in my gut that my family was among those bodies. I didn't need to see it to know it. I saw them later in the morgue when those of us who hadn't been there when the satellite fell were called in to identify bodies. One of the government's satellites had malfunctioned and fallen from orbit without being noticed until it was too late.

I can still remember vividly seeing their mangled bodies laying there. I still have one of Celest's dolls with me. I knew I couldn't stay any longer. It was too painful. So I had the aquitan rangers send me back. I found my father living in Washington, and I told him everything."

"Your father?" Jason asked. Billy just nodded, and Trini hugged him tightly.

"I didn't tell him about you all, although I suppose he figured it out. He didn't judge, and he didn't seem to upset. I could tell he was hurt that I'd lied, but I didn't care. I needed him at that moment. I needed someone. I know I could have come to any of you, but he was my father. The only living relative I had left."

"We understand, Billy. Really," Tommy told him, as Kimberly and Aisha joined Trini in holding their friend, who couldn't hold his tears back any longer. Kira and Trent looked at one another, and Trent held his girlfriend tighter. The other five guys, just made eye contact, each promising to be there for one another.

"Anyway, I applied for a job with the national intelligence units in DC, but surprisingly I was asked to go in for a physical examination as well as a mental aptitude test. Next thing I know, I'm being offered a job in the secret service. Not a high position, but one that would let me travel whenever I needed too."

"So that's why you can be here, these two weeks?" Trini asked him, and Billy nodded.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was just too painful."

"Its understandable, Billy," Zack told his friend. "Come on, lets do something all together, as a family?" he added, getting nods from everyone at the table.

"In that case, maybe we should leave you guys alone," Kira suggested, taking Trent's hand. "You deserve some time with one another."

"No, stay, please," Billy pleaded. "You guys are fun to have around," he told them.

"You just remind him of his childhood," Jason added and Billy laughed, whipping his eyes.

"Why don't we just spend the day by the pool?" Rocky suggested. "We always had fun at the beach."

"Good idea," Kimberly agreed. "Since Conner and Ethan are still missing," she stated as Tommy winced. "We should stay around here, so Tommy can kill them when they show up."

"I can kill them?" he asked.

"No," Kira and Trent replied.

"Remember, they have parents who expect them to come home alive," Kira told him.

"Although, I'm not exactly sure why," Trent put in. "But if you're sure? I mean, Kira and I can find ways to amuse ourselves." Tommy just looked at them with a very blank expression.

"No, we love having you guys around. Its entertaining to watch Tommy squirm," Zack told them.

"Tommy's been squirming?" Aisha asked as they all got up from the table to head back to their respective rooms and change.

"Oh yes, and doing interpretive dance," Jason put in.

"Oh really?" Adam asked him.

"It wasn't my fault! Jason dumped ice down my pants," Tommy protested.

"I thought we agreed that never happened, Dr. O?" Kira groaned.

"What never happened?" Rocky asked.

"We'll tell you later, as it may send Kira running to the bathroom," Trini informed him, hugging Kira around the shoulders.

"I'm traumatized for life," Kira responded, as the group split apart. She just hoped Kim's prediction that this was going to be a day from hell, was wrong.

* * *

Another chapter complete… and the next one: Tommy's big secret is about to come out, and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it. Plus, what have Conner and Ethan been up to? And is Jason really going to leave Trini for his best friend? Answers to these questions and more.  
FatelessWanderer 


	12. Who Said Being a Ranger Was a Good Thing

Definitely not the longest chapter in the whole story, but it should prove to be entertaining. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

One lesson learned that morning. Golf carts don't go very fast, and they shouldn't be driven on highways. Other than that, it had been a very fun morning, but Conner and Ethan swore they would never ride in the back of a golf cart again. Ethan had even mumbled something about missing his raptor cycle, to which Conner had simply nodded agreement.

When the golf cart finally pulled up to the front of the hotel, both boys stumbled out, laughing, before turning back to their drivers. Conner handed them a stack of papers that they'd been holding.

"Now remember, do exactly what we told you and I'm sure the power rangers will show up," Conner instructed the two adults in front. Both grinned and nodded.

"You're sure though?"

"Of course, Mr. Bulkmeier," Ethan replied.

"But how can you be so sure?" the other adult asked them.

"We've already told you," Conner groaned, smacking his forehead. "They did this in Reefside," the teen lied. "And all the rangers showed up."

"He's right, Mr. Skullovitch," Ethan added, sticking with the lie.

"Alright boys. Alright," Bulk told them. "We believe you. We'll see you later." Conner and Ethan just nodded as the golf cart drove away, and turned around, high-fiving one another as they began walking back into the hotel. The moment they stepped through the electronic doors and into the air conditioned lobby, they lowered their voices, but were still laughing about their plan.

"What the hell are you two doing?" a voice came from behind them, catching the off guard, and following them in from the front.

"Kira! Hi!" Ethan laughed, looking a bit nervouse, when they'd settled down from being startled.

"Hey Kira; uh, how much did you hear?" Conner asked, running his hand through his hair.

"Enough to know you're helping those two to discover the identities of the power rangers," Kira retorted, glaring at them. She wore a white and yellow bikini, her sunglasses on her head, and a bottle of suntan lotion in her hand.

"Not exactly, no," Conner protested. "We're trying to throw them off."

"When Dr. O hears what you're doing," Kira began but the former red ranger just slapped his hand over her mouth.

"Dr. O's not going to find out," he instructed her. She just glared at him, and bit his finger, causing him to release her, crying out in pain. "Damn it, Kira!"

"Come on Kira, don't tell Dr. O. I promise, it'll all work out," Ethan pleaded. She cast a 'you're so dead' look at him, which caused him to take a step back. "Please!"

"Fine. I won't say anything, but you're going to get caught, and then you're on your own," she promised them, walking away. "We're all at the pool. I suggest you change, and devise some cover story for where you were," Kira informed them, as she pushed open the door to the patio by the pool to join the other rangers.

Conner just looked at Ethan, who nodded. "She won't tell. She promised she wouldn't, and its Kira."

"I hope you're right, dude," Conner responded as they caught the elevator and walked in silence to their room, only to find Trent still inside. "Dude, I thought you'd be at the pool!" Conner blurted out.

"Dude," Trent mimicked. "I thought you'd be in your bed in the morning!" he tossed a pillow at him. "Man, I'd hate to be in your shoes right now," he added.

"Dr. O that miffed, huh?" Ethan asked him as he and Conner began to get ready for the pool.

"You've got no idea," Trent responded. "He nearly had a mental break down. Don't know what Jason told him, but whatever it was, he calmed down."

"Aww man, we are so totally dead," Conner groaned, now in a red bathing suit, as he collapsed onto his bed.

"No arguments here," Trent agreed, sitting down on his own bed to wait for them. "Where were you anyway?"

"You don't want to know, I promise," Ethan told him. Trent just stared at him for a few moments.

"Oh god. You didn't!"

Ethan just nodded. "But we'll tell Dr. O that we went to the youth center to spar a bit."

"Whatever. Your funeral."

"Ethan! I don't want to die," Conner replied, finally letting everything sink in.

"No choice now, Conner. Come on guys. Lets get to the pool before Kira gets to hear all the fun stories."

Trent led the way out into the hall and together, the three youths went towards the elevator, Ethan reaching it first. He took one look inside the already open doors of the elevator and turned on his heel. "Probably don't want to go that way," he told his two teammates who were giving him funny looks. "Swedish giantesses," he whispered. Trent frowned and looked around the corner with Conner. Both jumped and pulled their heads back quickly.

"Stairs?" Trent asked.

"Definitely stairs," Ethan agreed, opening the door to the side of the elevator, and admitting the three of them. "Now I know why they morphed," he told his friends as they began the long walk down, Conner taking them two or even three at a time.

"Big ladies," Conner agreed, causing his two friends to laugh. "Think we should hide behind them when Dr. O tries to kill us?" he asked Ethan.

"Couldn't hurt. Just don't grab large body parts," Trent told them, laughing.

"Oh, you're enjoying this?"

"The moment until your doom?" Trent asked Conner who was looking at him with a hurt look on his face. "Definitely. Reefside will be quieter," he added, when they reached the ground floor and pulled the door open, holding it open for his two teammates. They both hesitated, but finally just resolved to get it over with, and walked out into the lobby and threw the glass doors onto the patio, using their eyes to search for everyone.

The pool was fairly crowded, except for one area towards the back corner where a huge pile of towels and bags were stacked. It was as if an invisible barrier had been set up between the area and the surrounding tables. The people closest were glaring at a group of men in the pool directly in front of the disheveled area. Conner had to laugh. Wasn't he supposed to be public annoyance number one? The three teens carefully walked around the pool and deposited their belongings among the pile, only to receive automatic glares from the other residence.

"Oh get a life! You're at a pool; You're going to get wet!" Conner hissed at them, as a huge splash washed over him and Ethan, clearly making his point. The teenage former red ranger pushed the water out of his eyes and glared at the pool, or more specifically his science teacher who was involved in some type of water war with Rocky, Adam, Zack, Jason, and Billy. "Ok, now its on!" He yelled, pulling off his drenched shirt and cannon balling directly into the pool and nearly landing on top of said science teacher. Ethan just shrugged and followed suit. Trent shook his head, and looked around for Kira, but only faced the looks of the angry people who'd gotten wet thanks to the adults, Conner, and Ethan.

"He was right you know. It's a pool!" Trent growled, glaring back, as if challenging them all to try something. He'd show them.

"Trent! Over hear!" Kira's voice reached him. She was sitting with Trini, Kimberly and Aisha in the hot tub.

Trent waved but shook his head. "Maybe later," he called back, before pulling off his T-shirt and diving into the pool to join the other men.

It was a two sided match: Tommy, Jason, Rocky, and Conner versus Billy, Zack, Adam, and Ethan, which left Trent in the middle, literally, when he resurfaced. The next thing he knew, he was being drowned by apparently, eight ex-power rangers.

"Hey! What the hell did I do?" he shouted, laughing when he finally was above the water long enough to retort.

"Dunno, you were the last one in," Rocky scolded, pulling Adam's legs out from under him, and pressing him down under the water.

"No fair! I was distracted," Adam growled when he'd come up, and splashed Rocky directly in the face, causing the red ranger to go into a coughing fit, until Jason came to his aid, jumping on Adam's back.

The battle wouldn't be that easy, as Zack dove on top of Jason in an attempt to get the former red off his current teammate's back. This was countered, by Tommy attempting reach them and pull Zack off, and hopefully aid Jason, but he was cut off when Billy grabbed his arm, yanking him off his feet in the process. Conner took the chance to dive at the older blue ranger's waist, as Ethan grabbed hold of his shoulders, once again, leaving Trent bewildered.

"Fine!" he laughed, going over to Adam, and yanking the older man's feet out from under him once again, and sending the entire mass of former power rangers under water. All eight came up gasping for air. "He took out all eight of us!" Jason complained. "Tommy your student took out eight of us!"

"He did," Tommy agreed, laughing at the wounded look on his best friends face. "He hurt your ego, did he?"

"No!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Do they know what they're arguing about?" Ethan asked, leaning against the pool wall to catch his breath.

"I doubt it," Zack put in, swimming over to him, followed by Billy, Trent and Adam, leaving Rocky and Conner to deal with the arguing rangers.

"On the count of three," Rocky told the younger man. Conner just nodded, following his train of though as he swam behind his teacher. Rocky positioned himself behind Jason, and held up his fingers: one, two, three! As soon as his third finger was in the air, both dove underneath, and pulled the other two under, coming up quickly and holding them down for a few moments before releasing. Tommy and Jason came up gasping for air.

"What the hell was that for?" Tommy cursed, trying to grab hold of Conner who swam out of ranger.

"You were having a pointless fight with Jason," Adam called, from where he and the other guys were laughing, as Rocky dodged Jason. Unfortunately, he didn't give up as easily as Tommy and proceeded in chasing his successor around the pool for several minutes until he grabbed him and pushed him under, sitting on him until he figured Rocky would die if he didn't get air.

"Butt head," Rocky hissed as soon as he could breathe again. He, Conner, Tommy, and Jason joined the other guys leaning against the pool wall, as they all caught their breath from laughing.

"So spill it, Conner, Ethan. Where were you two?" Billy asked them.

"Billy drop it. I'm too tired to care," Tommy told him, closing his eyes and breathing slowly. "But if you disappear like that again, I'm sending you both home on the first bus to Reefsi-"

He was cut off as a tidal wave sized splash collided with his face, as well as the faces of the other eight male power rangers. Before any of them could see again, they heard laughter erupt in front of them that sounded like the girls.

"GET THEM!" Zack shouted, kicking off the wall and rushing off after them, all of his teammates behind him. Conner gabbed Kira's right leg, Ethan got hold of her left, and Trent caught both of her arms, completely restraining her, as they looked toward their new friends. Jason had both of Trini's arms, while Billy held her legs. Rocky and Adam had double teamed Aisha, each holding an arm and a leg. And Tommy and Zack had Kimberly like wise restrained.

"On the count of ten," Tommy laughed.

"Aww come on guys!" Kim protested squirming.

"One!" Zack answered.

"Can't you take a joke!" Kira whined.

"Two!" Conner laughed.

"So not funny anymore!" Trini murmured, trying to get away.

"Three," Billy responded, an evil grin on his face.

"I'll make you regret this!" Aisha hissed at Rocky in particular. He just shrugged.

"Four," Adam added to the count down.

"Please! Tommy come on!"

"Five!" was the only response Kim got out of him.

"Let me go!" Kira yelled, kicking out as hard as she could. The guys just held her tighter.

"Six," Ethan stated simply.

"No more fun for you!" Trini shouted at Jason. "EVER!" she added as an afterthought. He seemed to consider releasing her for a moment, but eventually just smiled.

"Seven."

"So going to make you regret this!" Aisha growled again.

"Eight," Rocky told her, kissing her forehead lightly. She attempted to bite him.

"Trent!" Kira hissed, managing to turn herself over in their arms, but not get herself free.

"Nine," he laughed.

"Oh shit!" Kim stated, as all of the guys smiled at one another.

"Ten!" they shouted at the same time and plunged the girls underneath the water, holding them down for a few seconds before letting them up.

"This means war!" Trini stated coming up for air.

"Bring it on!" Jason retorted. She glared at him for a moment, but let a small smirk form on her lips.

"Kim, please inform Mr. Scott that he will be sleeping on the couch, indefinitely, or until I decide otherwise."

Jason just stared at her, mouth open, as she climbed out of the pool and placed herself on one of the lounge chairs beside the pool, and pulled her sunglasses on, staring up at the sky. He looked between her and his snickering friends and back.

"Trini! Come on! I'm sorry!" He pleaded, taking off after her. They all watched him until he'd reached her side. He was down on his knees begging forgiveness.

"Whipped!" Zack murmured, getting more laughter.

"At least he's got someone to control the whip," Kimberly jeered, hitting him in the ribs were her elbow.

"At least she's got someone to control," Zack retorted, causing Kimberly to blush.

"Zack, are you nuts? Kimberly's controlled all of us since day one," Rocky stated, coming to her rescue. She grinned in his direction.

"He's got a point. She says jump," Billy began.

"And we say how high," Adam added.

"Knock it off, all of you," Kimberly laughed.

"And when Kim says this high," Zack added, as he and Tommy got closer to her, grabbing hold of her arms before she had the chance to react.

"She means this high," Tommy finished as he and Zack launched her into the air.

She came up from the water, sputtering. Aisha and Kira were staring at the guys, dumbfounded.

"Do they want to die?" Kira asked her predecessor.

"I suppose they may have some sort of death wish," Aisha answered, glancing back at Trini who was staring at Kim and the guys, her mouth wide open, Jason's arms around her. He looked up in the direction his wife was staring in, and shook his head, then slapped his forehead.

"Kim! Just remember, I was out here, trying to make things up to my wife!" Jason called, as the former pink ranger, wheeled around, a look of pure malice on her face as she glared at the five guys who wore looks of fear. Conner, Trent, and Ethan were cowering behind Aisha and Kira.

"TOMMY! ZACK! BILLY! ADAM! ROCKY!" Kimberly shouted, anger in her voice. All five cringed.

"Why'd she say mine name first," Tommy whined.

"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS! Mark my words. None of you will ever be safe again," she hissed as she got closer to them. She gave them all one last look, before slinging her wet hair over her shoulder and climbing out of the pool, taking a seat beside Jason and Trini, turning her back to the others in the pool.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Billy tried to laugh. The other four looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"We are so doomed!" Adam sighed, shaking his head. "We're going to have to sleep with one eye open."

"Aisha?" Rocky whined, looking at his fiancé with a puppy dog pout.

"No way, ape boy. You got yourselves into this mess. You get yourselves out," she laughed, leaning against the wall and smiling innocently at him. "It's a shame though. I would have enjoyed our wedding night." Rocky just turned green.

"Tommy this is your fault," Zack hissed at his friend.

"Mine? What'd I do that you didn't? You helped throw her!"

"Simple. She needs to be laid, and you're the only one who can-" he attempted to finish his sentence, but there was suddenly an arm around his throat, and his head was under water.

"Ok, so it's not just me," Conner whispered to his teammates, and Aisha. The teens just laughed, but Aisha looked confused.

"Anyone mentions something about Kim, and Dr. O goes nuts," Kira stated, interpreting the woman's look.

"He nearly crashed the car when Conner mentioned that she was hot our first night here," Trent told her. Aisha nodded, letting a small smile cross her face.

"Interesting," she murmured, noticing that Tommy still hadn't let Zack up, none of the others was willing to get close enough to help, and Zack was beginning to go limp. "Excuse me," she stated, swimming over, and prying Tommy's arm off of Zack's arm. "NO KILLING!" She commanded her former leader who glared but backed off as Zack resurfaced, gasping for air and rubbing his neck.

"Were you trying to kill me! What the hell has gotten into you!" He growled.

"Zack, relax. You started it," Billy told him. Zack gave him an angry look, but then sighed and nodded.

"Ok, no more trying to kill Blacks or blues," he grinned, scolding Tommy like a child.

"Or red!" Rocky laughed, dunking the former white ranger under the water to cool him off. And the water fight was instantly resumed, save Kira and Aisha, who pulled themselves out of the water before being swept into the massive chaos, joining Kimberly, Trini and Jason.

Kira sat down on one of the empty lounge chairs, and watched her teammates for a moment, before shaking her head. They were turning the game into a virtual color war. Tommy and Trent, versus Adam and Zack, versus Billy and Ethan, versus Rocky and Conner. The whole thing made her laugh, as Trent and Tommy double teamed Rocky and Conner, forcing both red rangers under the water, only to be attacked from behind by Billy and Ethan. When the two blue rangers were high fiving one another, they neglected to remember Adam and Zack who jerked their legs out from underneath.

"Ok Kira, your turn," Jason told her. The youngest female ranger turned around and looked at them.

"My turn for what?"

"A story. You know, something ranger related, that might allow us insight to certain shared friend of ours," Kimberly egged her on.

"You just want to black mail Dr. O," Kira laughed. Trini and Aisha nodded agreement, while Jason and Kimberly gave her innocent looks.

"Well, how about the time one of Dr. O's experiments nearly got me killed?" she suggested. "Well, more than just in the usual sense."

"Sounds like fun," Trini said, rolling her eyes. "I still can't believe your enemies were his fault."

"Believe it. Ok, so this story is about one of his and Mercer's worst experiments. Dr. O was well, out sick due to a slight malfunction involving ranger technology." Kira began. She wasn't exactly lying. She didn't like lying to the people who'd been so nice to her. She just didn't include that he'd been out sick due to the fact that he was permanently stuck in his black ranger suit. "The day before, I'd been taking inventory with Dr. O in the lab. Actually, that was the day I first got to see a picture of you guys all together. But anyway, I found a piece of a dinosaur skeleton, but Dr. O said it was really important and had to be kept safe. He put it away in a case. So, we had a substitute as a result, and it was none other than Anton Mercer. Still had no idea it was Mercer who was Mesagog, or that our vice principal was one of our other enemies, Elsa. This was when Trent was being a real jerk; you know what evil rangers are like." Kimberly, Trini, and Jason nodded, but didn't speak, instead insisting she go on. "Well, Dr. Mercer decided we should go on a field trip to the exact same museum that resulted in us getting our powers in the first place. Needless to say, I would have preferred not to go, but when you're in high school, you've really got no choice."

"You don't have to explain that," Jason told her.

"But what did Tommy think of you going along with this?" Kimberly asked.

"Nothing really. He thought it'd be good for us. He really respected Dr. Mercer. But we didn't know he was evil. Strange maybe; but we didn't think he was our worst nightmare."

"And he was supposed to have a PhD?" Aisha laughed. Kira just nodded.

"So go on Kira. What happened at the museum?" Trini encouraged as Ethan and Billy came out of the pool to join them. Apparently, they'd been eliminated from the game.

"Museum? Which time?" Ethan asked, taking a seat beside Kira.

"With Dr. Mercer," she stated simply.

"Oh, the time you went all evil Satanic on us?" he joked.

"Satanic?" Kimberly cocked an eyebrow at the younger girl.

"He's exaggerating. Anyway, when we were on a tour, I though I saw a tyrannodrone lurking about, so I followed it, and it lead me into an old storage closet. Inside was an incomplete skeleton creature. Mainly it was just a skull. I tried to get away, but the skull had hypnotic powers and the next thing I knew, it was like it was my master."

"I still can't believe you let it control you," Ethan laughed.

"I'd have liked to see you do better," she snapped back. "Anyway, I treated the others like crap. Even told them I didn't want to spend anymore time then necessary with them. I tricked Dr. O into leaving the lab, snuck in, and stole the bone I'd seen the day before and returned it to the storage closet, and the stupid skull. It was the final piece which was needed to bring to life the Fossilador. So it was half my fault, and half Dr. O's. As soon as it was brought to life, it released its hold on my mind, but it also managed to knock me out. The next thing I knew I was coming to in the storage closet with Haley standing over me. I was determined to kill that thing with my bare hands."

"She almost did. Conner and I were doing our best against the Fossilador while Kira was napping, but we weren't doing wonderful. The only thing that prevented him from taking over our minds were our powers. He apparently could only control us in civilian form. Once Kira joined us, we destroyed him by taking out the bone that had put him all back together in the first place. Why Dr. O ever kept the thing, I will never understand," Ethan informed them.

"Where was he when you were doing all this, anyway? Why did Haley find you Kira?" Aisha asked the two of them. Both teens looked at one another.

"I told you. He was out sick due to a backfire in ranger technology," Kira explained.

"What happened?" Billy egged.

"He was working on our bikes and one sort of exploded on him," Ethan lied. "Burned him pretty badly," he added. "Singed his eyebrows. Made him quite an unsightly mess. He'd have scared all the students had he come back to class."

"Ouch," Trini winced, sympathizing with the non-existent pain.

"Yeah, well, its his own fault," Jason told them, standing up and jumping back into the pool. Only to find it very deserted, at least when it came to their group. Only Zack, Rocky, and Conner remained in the pool. The other three had gotten out complaining that they were starting to get cramps from swimming to long. "Party poopers!" Jason called. Tommy just stuck his tongue out at him.

"So, what have you all been talking about," He asked, sitting down on the lounge chair beside Kimberly, his new friend. She kicked him off, still mad at him from the pool. Revenge would be hers.

"Oh nothing really," she laughed, as Trent slipped behind his girlfriend, giving her a kiss. Adam seated himself beside Aisha, across from Trini, Billy, and Ethan.

"Yeah, Kira and Ethan were just telling us about the time when you were out sick due to malfunction ranger stuff, and Trent's father took them to the museum," Trini explained, looking at him. She could have sworn his face paled a bit.

"What malfunctioning ranger stuff?" He stressed, staring at Kira and Ethan, both who wore innocent looks.

"You know Dr. O," Kira began. "When Ethan's bike exploded on you," she stated simply, nodding. Tommy frowned at her for a moment, and then it hit him.

"Oh… right!"

"The jolt messed his mind up a bit," Ethan added, hoping to cover his teacher's strange behavior. All his friends were staring at him.

"I don't think it was the jolt," Adam put in.

"Nope, Tommy's always been this forgetful," Billy told them, causing everyone to laugh.

"Once we were leaving the youth center, and he forgot his keys inside. He went back in to get them, and then forgot where he'd parked the car," Kimberly stated.

"I so did not!"

"You did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"TOMMY! Stop arguing with Kimberly. You can't win!" Trini scolded

"But…"

"Stop!"

"Fine!" Tommy pouted.

"No more pouting," Trini instructed and he stopped. "Good boy. Now give her a kiss," she stated. And he actually almost obeyed. Inches away, he instantly stopped, looked at Kimberly's shocked face to Trini and the other's amused ones, and glared.

"I really really hate you all," he stated, turning away and looking back at the pool, skimming the water with his eyes. "Shit! Now where did Conner go?"

"Not only Conner, but Jason, Rocky, and Zack," Billy stated.

"Well, that's good right. He's with responsible adults," Ethan stated.

"Are we talking about the same Jason, Rocky, and Zack?" Kimberly asked him. Ethan just shrugged.

"Oh, this is going to end badly," Adam stated, and his friends just nodded.

"If the hotel explodes, it's not my fault," Trini put in. "I only control one of them."

"Same here," Aisha put in. "But maybe we should look for them anyway. Avoid any chance of a lawsuit?"

"Good idea," Kimberly put in. The others nodded, and they began the great hunt for three missing red rangers and the random black one.

* * *

"Hey Conner?" Jason said to the younger ranger when he'd reached Rocky, Zack, and the teenager.

"Hmm?" The teen murmured, looking up from where he was floating on his back in the water.

"Rocky and I want to show you a red trade secret," Jason stated simply.

"We do?" Rocky suddenly asked his predecessor, who simply nodded. Rocky just shrugged.

"Really, what?" Conner asked, standing back up looking at the older rangers.

"A few moves only we know. They can help you bring down Trent," Jason replied, hoping to catch the boys interest. He definitely managed that, but Zack was starting to protest. "Alright; alright; we'll take you with us," he stated, dragging the complaining black ranger, the confused former red ranger, and the eager red teen out of the pool behind him.

Jason ushered them into the freezing cold, air conditioned lobby of the hotel, glancing over his shoulder, to see Tommy looking like he was going to pass out, while the others were giving him strange looks. "I'm going to find out what you're hiding, Tommy Oliver, or I'm not the first red," he smirked, going following them inside.

Moments later, he'd let them into Tommy's room, and placed the chain lock on the door. Conner, Rocky, and Zack sat down on the bed, giving him questioning looks as he locked the connecting door to Conner's room.

"What ARE you doing?" Zack questioned his friend, pretty sure that he'd finally cracked. Jason just shook his head.

"Red ranger secret," he responded.

"Well, it must be some secret because I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about," Rocky put in.

"That's because you don't pay attention," Jason stated. Rocky just stared at him, opened his mouth to retort, but came up empty.

"Damn you," he stated.

"So what exactly is the big secret?" Conner asked. Jason grinned and lead him into the middle of the room and began to demonstrate some advanced karate moves, that neither Zack or Rocky had ever seen him use. Within minutes, all four of them were executing the different positions in the middle of the hotel room.

A sudden pounding on the door startled them, but Jason insisted they keep going as a voice broke through. "Jason Scott I know you're in there," Tommy's voice stated.

"Maybe we should let him in," Conner stated, still following Jason's instructions.

"No, it's his own fault he forget his key. Besides, Red ranger's only," Jason retorted. "Get lost Tommy," he shouted back to the door.

"Jason! Open the door right now!"

"But what about Zack," Conner protested.

"And Tommy was the red zeo ranger," Rocky added. Jason just shook his head.

"He's not special enough," he stated as Tommy began to bang louder on the door. He simply ignored it, knowing that if he kept going, Helga and her twin might find him and punish him for making noise. "Conner," he suddenly stated, while still keeping the teen going through the moves. "Why did Anton Mercer take you guys to the museum when the Fossilador attacked?"

"Huh? Oh, because he was substituting for Dr. O," Conner stated, trying to get the now more complex moves Jason was showing him, correct.

"Really? And why was he substituting for Tommy?"

"Dr. O wasn't able to leave the lab," Conner responded. He didn't notice that the banging on the door was getting louder, or that Zack and Rocky seemed to have stopped and were staring at Conner and Jason.

"Why couldn't he leave the lab?"

"Well, he couldn't very well teach class while he was stuck in morph," he responded, realization dawning on his face as Jason stopped the motions and began grinning like he'd just won the lottery. "Oh shit!" Conner stated, backing against the bed, and sitting down, head in his hands. "You! You tricked me!" he whinned, a hurt look. "And now he's going to kill me! Hide the floss!" Conner was panicking as Jason went over to the door and yanked it open, letting Tommy into the room.

"Its about damn time," Tommy hissed at him. "What were you doing in here?" he asked, looking over at a stunned Rocky and Zack who were staring at him like he'd just turned into Lord Zedd. Jason was fishing around in the closet for something. His eyes landed on Conner who was cowering on the bed, fear written all over his face. "You weren't molesting my student, were you?" Tommy called behind him.

"No!" Jason called back. "Lets see," he added, tossing clothing out of the closet where Tommy kept his suitcase. "Green," he stated, sending a green shirt over his head. "White," he added, when a white polo landed on the floor. "Red," a pair of red socks hit the ground. "Ah ha! BLACK!" he called, holding up a black tank top and a pair of solid black swim trunks!

Tommy turned about eight colors at once, as he dove at Jason, who just dodged and went running down the hall, waving the clothing in his hand, and crying out the word black over and over again while laughing like a maniac. Tommy pushed himself up off the floor and turned his glaze on the young red ranger who appeared to be ready to hide under the bed.

"Its not my fault! He tricked me!" Conner pleaded. Tommy looked ready to kill him, but was stopped when Rocky and Zack finally grasped what was going on and began laughing their asses off.

"Oh my god!"

"Black! You've got to be kidding!"

"SHUT UP!" Tommy growled, pouncing on both of them, and pinning them to the bed.

"TOMMY!" Kimberly's voice called from behind him. He turned his head over his shoulders only to see Kimberly standing in the door way, her arms crossed over her chest, a questioning look on her face. He still head both hands pinning Rocky and Zack to the bed. Trini was beside her, her husband's shirt clutched in her hand, while the man continued to grin, still waving Tommy's clothing in his hands. Kira, Trent, Ethan, Billy, Adam and Aisha stood behind them. "Would you care to explain why Jason was running down the hall waving clothing in the air, and screaming black at the top of his lungs?"

"No."

"I wasn't asking," she stated.

"Don't care. No," he retorted, refusing to back down. Jason just began laughing once again, whispering black over and over again. The only reason he was still on his feet was because Trini was holding him up. Kimberly studied the room for a minute. Rocky and Zack were struggling not to laugh like Jason, while also trying to pry their teammate off of them, and Conner was peeking out from underneath one of the other beds.

"Tommy!"

"I said no!"

"He's black!" Zack blurted out, but was cut off from saying anything more by Tommy's hand pressing down harder. Unfortunately, this caused him to release Rocky who scrambled out of reach and over to where the remainder of the rangers stood. Kira, Trent, and Ethan were slowly trying to back away, but Billy stopped them, giving them a look that commanded them to remain in place.

"Black?" Trini asked, causing another bout of giggles from her husband.

"According to Conner, the reason Tommy was out sick was because he was stuck in morph, and Jason found black clothing in Tommy's suitcase," Rocky explained through laughter. Tommy just hung his head and got up off of Zack, who rolled off the bed, laughing.

"Oh my god, you're serious," Billy stated, looking at the three teenagers at his side. All three nodded. Trini dropped Jason, due to the shock, which caused a loud thump and more laughing from the first red ranger. Kimberly looked at him for a moment, wondering if he'd cracked for good, but then directed her gaze toward Tommy.

"There weren't four Dino Thunder rangers?" she asked. Tommy shook his head.

"There were five?" Billy asked. This time Tommy nodded, still not looking up.

"You were a power ranger… again!" Trini stated. Once again, her former teammate nodded.

"Ranger suit and all?" Aisha put in. "You had a zord?" More nodding.

"Let me ask you one thing," Adam stated. "Are you trying to be the first man on earth to wear every ranger color in the world?" Tommy just glared at him, but Adam continued to grin.

"Tommy, you're going to be in trouble soon," Zack stated. "All that's left is blue, yellow, and pink."

"Aww… I want to see him in pink!" Kimberly snickered.

"He's going to be a hundred years old and still kicking aliens ass," Trini laughed.

"More like beating them over the head with a cane," Rocky put in.

"Think about the pink," Kim continued. "With the skirt and everything," she added. Each minute they continued, Tommy could feel himself getting smaller and smaller by the minute.

"Kim, I don't think Tommy's going to be the next pink ranger," Billy told her.

"You bet your ass I'm not," he retorted, looking around for Conner.

"No, Tommy's going to be the first ever rainbow ranger," the first blue ranger finished. Tommy lost interest in Conner and dove at Billy, he jumped out of the way. Trini and Kimberly forced him down on the bed.

"Awww… are you that ashamed?" Trini asked him. Tommy just ignored her.

"You should have told us, then maybe we wouldn't have harassed you like this," Kimberly put in.

"You wouldn't?"

"I said maybe. But no, we probably would," she stated. Tommy just got a sour look on his face. "Come on. Its funny and you know it. You're a decade older than they are. Hell, you took like an eight year break before putting that suit on."

"Yeah, Jason was only gone a year before he put the gold ranger powers on," Adam added, laughing.

"Are you all quite through?" Tommy asked them.

"I guess," Kimberly laughed.

"For now," Rocky put in. Tommy just shook his head. "Come on, lets go back to the pool," he suggested. The others agreed between smiles and incriminating looks at Tommy. Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

"Conner, you can come out now; we won't let him kill you," Zack told the teenager.

"Did you hide the floss?" Conner called back.

"Conner if I ever killed you, I wouldn't use floss!" Tommy hissed, as the teen pulled himself out from under the bed and slid past his teacher until he could hide safely behind his teammates. Not until Trent, Ethan, and Kira were between him and Tommy did he stand up straight.

"Well, at least we don't have to lie anymore, right Dr. O?" Conner stated, running his hand through his hair nervously." Tommy just growled, but allowed himself to be guided out the door by his friends. Zack and Billy pulled the still hysterical Jason to his feet, as they pulled the door shut behind them.

"He's a Black ranger!" Jason snorted out just loud enough to get a reaction out of Tommy. Kimberly and Trini grabbed hold of him, clinging to him. Not only were things interesting; but they were definitely dangerous now. Poor Tommy. In a matter of minutes, his life had been flipped upside down, and the one person who wouldn't let him forget was his best friend. The war was officially on. Red versus White. And white was going to win.

* * *

Ok, so Tommy's whole vacation has hit an official low. And unfortunately, while I know where the story is going, and what's going to happen, I only had through chapter 12 officially mapped out. So I'm going to map out more of the story before I resume writing. But there will be countless more laughs, and just so all know, Tommy's not the only one who can lie… (evil laughter). Coming soon: what exactly were Conner and Ethan doing with Bulk and Skull? How will Tommy get his revenge? And will Trini and Kimberly ever find out about Tommy and Jason's secret bathroom romance. I promise I'll update asap. And thanks in advance for the reviews. 


	13. Learning to Keep Your Big Mouth Shut

Ok, so before I begin this chapter, I want to make a request. For any of you that have read my "Out of" series (the tragedies) and have read "Out of Hope", or would be willing to read the series. I've been struggling back and fourth with the idea of taking each of the little stories in "Out of Hope" and turning them into a multi-mini chapter story that will detail everything from the end of "Out of Time" to the end of "Out of Hope". So basically, the question is, do you all think I should?

Anyway, now onto chapter 13 of this piece of entertainment (?); that's the only thing I could come up with to call it.

* * *

Tommy glared at Kimberly and Trini as they kept him from killing the still laughing red ranger behind him, but he stopped fighting them, knowing he would only make things worse for himself if he did. "Keep laughing, hyena boy," he growled, instead, but continued to follow the group. Kira, Ethan, and Trent were shooting glares at their own red ranger. This was his fault, and they knew they'd all be paying for it when Tommy forgot about Jason; Although that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

"Oh, I will, oh rainbow ranger!" Jason retorted between giggles, which caused Zack, Rocky, and Billy to begin laughing as well.

"I'm glad you all find this so amusing," Adam told them. "I for one am very upset." No one actually believed him, mainly due to the large smile that covered his face.

"Really Adam; maybe you should share your ill contentment with the rest of us, because I'm sure it very much out weighs my own," Tommy replied dryly, rolling his eyes. Kimberly just snickered and patted his arm.

"Ignore Mr. Grumpy butt, Adam; what's wrong?"

"Well, I only have two colors, and now I have to share them both with Tommy. I've lost all identity here!" He laughed.

"Wait, I only had one!" Zack stated, grinning. Tommy just raised his eyebrows at the two of them, and crossed his arms over his chest. This was getting absolutely ridiculous. "Pretty soon he's going to steal everyone's identity," Zack added, ignoring the look he was getting from Tommy, who had officially stopped moving, positioning himself between the group of adult rangers, and his newest team behind him. Trent nearly walked into him; realizing too late that he'd stopped all forward motion. "What's wrong Tommy? Mad at us? Going to go all evil on us again?" Zack teased. Tommy's face turned slightly green, and the smile on Kimberly's face faded. She tugged on Zack's shirt lightly, trying to get his attention, but Zack just shrugged her off.

"No," Tommy retorted, whirling around to face the teenagers, all who wore looks that begged for an alien to attack and distract their teacher. "Move!" he commanded them. Conner and Ethan jumped to the right, as Trent moved to the left, attempting to pull Kira along with her. The yellow teen glared at him, making him let go, before staring straight into Tommy's eyes with renewed bravery. "Kira, don't make me repeat myself." She narrowed her gaze, but moved slightly to the left to let him pass. The moment he took one step forward, she stuck her foot out and tripped him so he was now on the floor in the middle of the hall way between Conner, Ethan, and Trent, with Kira standing over him, and his high school teammates behind her. He rolled onto his back, to see her glaring down at him, and it was quite intimidating.

"Quit acting like a wounded baby!" she snapped. "Firstly, you shouldn't have lied. Secondly, you shouldn't have made us lie. Thirdly, it's your own fault, so deal with the teasing. And fourth, you should be proud not ashamed. There are at least ten ranger teams out there who all wish they could fight along someone like you, and you act like having the power a horrible thing. Well, news flash for you Dr. O: We don't choose the power! It chooses us! And right now, I wish it hadn't chosen you." With that, she turned on her heel and stormed down the hall, bursting through the crowd of former rangers in her haste to reach the elevator, still simmering. Trent, Conner, and Ethan looked from her back, to their predecessors, to their downed teammate.

"She's _right_ you know," Ethan told him, walking off.

"Maybe _we_ didn't want to be on your team," Conner growled, following them.

Trent just looked at him. "I'm _nothing_ like you," he added, before joining his friends. Tommy just remained on the floor, staring at the elevator at the end of the hall as it closed, the four teens disappearing from sight. He pulled himself against the wall, and put his head in his hands.

"Wonderful. Way to go Tommy. You get to screw everything up," he muttered to himself.

"You didn't screw up everything," Kimberly told him, kneeling beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, you just screwed this one up," Rocky assured him. Tommy just looked at him.

"We didn't help matters much, though," Billy put in, getting nods from Trini, Adam, and Aisha. Jason and Zack both sighed and finally agreed that they hadn't really been the most supportive.

"It was funny, though," Jason told him, offering his hand down to Tommy, who ignored it. "Tommy, get up, if you don't want me to morph right now and kick your ass."

"I need my ass kicked at the moment," was the only reply he got.

"Yeah, well, I think Kira kicked it pretty hard already. What you need now is to go down there and apologize to those kids," Aisha told him. "Now listen to Jason, or we're all going to kick your ass."

Tommy looked at her and then took Jason's hand, letting the first leader pull him to his feet. "Lead the way, fearless leader."

"Right this way, technicolor freak," Jason responded. Tommy hit him in the back of his head, but joined in the laughter that filled the hall way.

When the adults reached the pool, it didn't surprise them to see Kira sitting on the edge of the pool, Trent, Conner, and Ethan in the water around her, talking in low voices, and trying to calm the yellow teen down. She appeared to have tears in her eyes. The three boys turned to glare at Tommy the moment they noticed him nearby. Tommy sighed. "Give me a minute you guys. I have to talk to my teammates," he said simply.

"Of course," Jason replied. Kimberly and Trini hugged him around the shoulders, and then Kimberly gave him a push towards the teenagers, before the adults sat down by the lounge chairs, falling into their own conversations.

Tommy stumbled a bit due to Kim's push, but steadied himself and then sat down beside Kira.

"What do you want, Dr. Oliver?" Conner growled. Tommy sighed, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry you guys. Kira, you were right about everything you said. I should have been proud to tell them I was the fifth Dino Thunder ranger. I _am_ proud to have been on your team."

"You don't act like it," Ethan hissed.

"I know. And I'm sorry. This isn't easy for me. I've barely seen these people in years, and it's like meeting them all again for the first time. Like being the new kid again who has to impress everyone in order to be liked." Tommy explained, looking at Trent. The white ranger nodded understanding.

"And the girl?" he asked, a slight smile on his lips. Tommy gave the slightest inclination of a nod before realizing the severity of Trent's words and quickly shaking his head with utmost determination.

"No. I mean, it was like thaty ago. Now it's just me wanting to be accepted. I was afraid they wouldn't think I was still me if I had done something so different as to add another ranger suit to my collection."

"Dr. O, they know just as well that we do that you're Tommy Oliver; the first new kid; the first sixth ranger; the first evil ranger; the first ranger to have his own megazord; the first ranger to have more than one color; the first ranger to serve with more than one team; the first ranger to both follow orders and give them; You're special, they know it; and they didn't seem at all surprised to find out you were a ranger again. I think they expected it," Kira told him. "So don't worry so much about what they think. You already know they're you're friends. You don't have to try so hard to fit in," she added, raising her hand and pushing him into the pool. "And that was for being a really big butt head." The four teens laughed as he resurfaced.

"So, all made up then?" Zack asked, coming over. Kira, Trent, Ethan, and Conner all nodded. Tommy just glared at the four of them.

"Yep, we're even." Conner assured the first black ranger, who nodded.

"Good, because a challenge has been made, and you and Kira are needed to participate," he informed the teen.

"What's going on?" Kira asked, looking back to the chairs. Several of the chairs were knocked over. Rocky and Jason were on their backs, while Trini and Aisha were standing over them yelling at them very much in the same manner that Kira had yelled at Tommy in the hallway. The only difference was that both girls seemed to want to do physical damage to the former red rangers, and Billy and Adam were standing behind them, gripping them by the arms tightly to prevent said damage.

"Rocky and Jason made some stupid remarks about red rangers being better than all the others, and the girls took it personally," Zack replied, glancing back at them. Kimberly had gotten between both groups now and was attempting to aid Adam and Billy in keeping both former yellows away from Jason and Rocky. "You didn't do anything screwy to them when you tried to kill them earlier?" he directed at Tommy.

"Doubtful, or you'd be experiencing the same thing," Tommy told him, pulling himself out of the pool. "What do you need Kira and Conner for?"

"Jason suggested a competition, between the yellow and red rangers since there's the same amount of each of them present, if we don't count you," Kim called back. "Relay race. The winning team is the superior color; at least between the two."

"Why not make it three teams?" Ethan asked as the group in the pool went to join the others.

"There's only two whites, one pink, two blues, and two bla... oh wait a minute," Billy said, realization dawning on his face. He let go of Trini who jumped on top of her husband, and began pounded on his chest.

"Billy! A little help here!" Jason choked out. Billy grinned and pulled Trini off of Jason, forcing her onto a chair as Adam did the same with Aisha.

"Please tell me I don't have to participate in this thing," Adam pleaded, following Billy's train of thought. Tommy joined him nodding, while Zack was grinning like crazy.

"Come on you two! You know black's better anyway," he laughed.

"Yeah right!" Rocky coughed out. "Frog boy doesn't want to partake because he knows he's going to lose."

"Shut it you stupid ape," Adam growled back.

"Frog? Ape?" Conner asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ningetti powers," Kira supplied. "You really were out of it when they told us the story of how they went to Phaedos, weren't you?"

"Phaedos?"

"Never mind," Tommy sighed. "Have Ethan and Trent tell you later. Anyway, Zack, no matter what the reasoning is, you can't make a team all by yourself; and I refuse to race."

"Same here," Adam put in.

"Awww… are the black rangers scared they're going to lose?" Kimberly teased. Tommy raised his eyebrows at her.

"No, I just don't think the teams would be fair," he retorted, casting a look at the two young rangers who would be competing. "They'd all have an unfair disadvantage going up against three seasoned adults."

"Actually, it would be perfectly fair," Ethan assured him. "It would be the first and second of each color, and the Dino Thunder ranger of each color."

"And that's why he's blue," Billy laughed as Tommy sighed, his argument defeated.

"Fine, I'll race, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"That's all well and good, but I don't plan on playing this little game," Adam continued to protest, his arms crossed.

"Don't make me call Tanya and tell her you're being a party pooper," Aisha threatened him. Adam just stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to figure out what his odds of getting out of this mess were. Sighing, he looked at Tommy.

"This is all your fault, you know that, right?"

"I know," Tommy assured, him. "What are the rules?"

"It'll be a simple three lap race," Billy instructed. "Jump in, swim a lap, tag your teammate, who repeats the process. Once all three are back out of the pool on this side, the race is over."

"No, I think it needs to be more complicated," Kimberly laughed.

"You just want to participate, don't you?" Jason teased her. Kimberly nodded vigorously.

"What did you have in mind?" Trini asked her, laughing.

"Ok, well, you'll all be swimming with T-shirts on. Once you're out of the pool, you have to pull your wet T-shirt off, and put it on a fourth person. Once the fourth is wearing all the t-shirts, you have to get them into the pool, and drag them across; they can't do any swimming of their own; and pull them out on the other side. Then remove all three t-shirts and put them back on."

"Did anyone follow a word she just said?" Zack asked. Trini, Kira, Aisha, Rocky, Jason, Tommy, Adam, Billy, Ethan, and Trent all raised their hands. Zack just looked at Conner. "Well, at least I'm not alone." His statement was followed by laughter and the appointment of the three extras. Kim would be the fourth for the yellows since none of their t-shirts would fit the guys. Ethan would go for the blacks since they didn't have a teenager on their team, and Trent would be the fourth for the reds since Billy opted not to be dragged across a pool by Rocky and Jason and he doubted that Conner would be any better..

They'd decided that the racers would have to go in order of power. Meaning the first laps would be done by Jason, Zack, and Trini, followed by Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, and lastly Conner, Tommy, and Kira. Billy swam to the opposite end of the pool, while Trent, Ethan, and Kimberly took their places behind the teams of three.

"On your mark; get set; GO!" Billy yelled across the pool once everyone was in position, and immediately there was a huge splash emitted from the pool. Many of the other patrons didn't seem too happy about it.

When the wave had disappeared, Zack had the lead, only because he was a bit of a faster swimmer than Trini, and because Jason had managed to swim into the middle of a kids game of catch in the pool. By the time they reached the far wall, though, Jason had caught up to Trini and Zack, the later getting a crap, and slowing, causing Adam and Tommy to groan. "What were you saying about the other teams having a disadvantage? We have Zack!" Adam growled at Tommy. This was all his fault after all.

Jason reached the wall first, tagging Rocky who jumped into the pool immediately and took off. Unfortunately, Jason was having difficulty getting his T-shirt off of his body. Trini, who'd come up behind him only seconds after, tagged, Aisha, and pulled herself up beside Kimberly. The girls smiled at one another and used a trick they'd learned in camp when they were kids. Trini grabbed her friends arms, and Kimberly pulled Trini's T-shirt straight off of her, and onto herself, inside out, but still on. As they finished, they heard the sound of a splash beside them, indicating that Adam had just taken off gunning after Rocky and Aisha. Tommy was watching as Zack frantically pulled his T-shirt off and began forcing it on the teen.

"Pay attention to Adam," Zack hissed at Tommy who instantly turned his attention to the water. Jason had finally gotten his own shirt off and it was sitting on Trent's shoulders. Unfortunately, the teen couldn't find the arm holes, even as Rocky tagged Conner, and pulled himself up. He wasn't allowed to remove his shirt until Trent was wearing Jason's. Adam had caught up and passed Aisha in the turn around, and practically pulled Tommy into the pool, rather than tagging him, and pulled himself out, tossing his shirt at Ethan.

"Put it on!" he shouted, as Aisha tagged Kira, and repeated the same process Trini had with Kimberly. Rocky now had his shirt off, as Conner got caught in a group of elderly women, all who were threatening to call security if he didn't quit splashing them. Kira came up for air directly beside her teacher, and grinned at him, as they both reached the far wall at the same time, Tommy breathing just as hard as his friends back on the other wall. Kira just laughed and took a deep breath, kicking off hard and pulling out in front of him. Tommy growled and dove after her, casting a glance over his shoulder at Conner who had finally managed to reach the far wall and was on top of the two of them. Conner managed to reach the wall first and struggled to pull himself out, while Rocky and Jason finished getting Rocky's shirt situated on Trent properly. He immediately yanked off his own, and held it open for his teammate who grinned. Kira was right behind him, and wasn't surprised at all when Aisha and Trini yanked her up out of the pool, practically throwing her into Kim as they repeated the process that was working so well. Tommy brought up the rear, doing his best to ignore the shouts Zack and Adam were giving him as he pried himself from the cool water and tugged his shirt off and roughly onto Ethan, pushing the teen straight into the water, a sneer on his face.

"Chill out Dr. O," Ethan hissed when he'd come up for air, but was forced to swallow a butt load of water when the three black rangers jumped in nearly on top of him. Tommy grabbed the back of his shirts, while Zack and Adam each grabbed an arm and began dragging him across the pool, cursing the fact that they'd chose to hold the race in the area of the pool where it was at least 10 feet deep at all times.

Conner, Jason, and Rocky had all grabbed hold of Trent and lifted him off his feet, running towards the pool and jumping in with him, so that they landed ahead of the blacks, although its very difficult to resurface with the full weight of a person on top of you, and their strategy didn't go over well, as all four resurfaced, gasping for air.

Trini and Aisha lowered themselves into the pool, and Trini held Aisha's left shoulder with her right hand, as Aisha held Trini's right with her left hand, both stretching their arms between them. Kira lowered Kimberly in between them supported by their arms, and jumped in behind, using herself as a propeller for the make shift raft the girls had formed. It took no time for them to by pass Jason, Conner, and Rocky. They reached the far end only a second after Tommy, Adam, and Zack. Trini and Aisha pushed themselves up onto the wall, and then reached back down and pulled Kimberly up, and then Kira, while all four of the black rangers scrambled to get out at the same time, causing confusion and bumping on their team as the reds reached the wall.

Using the same tactic as earlier, Kira, Aisha, and Trini got their T-shirts off Kimberly, and onto themselves, just as re-shirted Tommy and Adam tried to get Zack's shirt back on him, and Rocky and Conner helped Jason as he struggled to get his shirt off Trent.

"Game over! Yellow wins!" Billy laughed as the girls cheered, high fiving each other, and jumped in the pool.

"You were saying, Jason?" Trini laughed.

"Yellow is better than red," her husband mumbled defeated.

"Oh Rocky?"

"I'll buy you that necklace you wanted," Rocky responded to Aisha who pulled him into the pool, wrapped her legs around him and kissed him.

Conner looked at Kira. "I never said anything to begin with," he assured her.

"I know," she laughed, doing a back float.

"So, both teams would be at an unfair disadvantage?" Kimberly asked Tommy who just grinned, blushing a bit (or maybe it was just due to the fact that he'd swam faster than he ever had in his life). The only thing scarier than a disgruntled sea monster was a disgruntled black ranger, and he now had two of them to deal with.

"Well, we beat the reds," he stated.

"True," Zack laughed. "I blame your student anyway. His body rejected our shirts."

"Sorry… I wear blue," Ethan laughed.

"At least I don't have to worry about Aisha telling Tanya that I beat her," Adam agreed, sitting down.

"And I would have, too," Aisha laughed, hugging him, and hanging onto Rocky at the same time. She kissed his cheek. "Oh, buck up, my froggie. I know you miss her." Adam just nodded, laying back, his feet in the water. Jason sat beside him, and Trini swam over and sat on his feet, laying her head on his lap, yawning. Conner and Ethan plunged back into the pool, Zack right behind them, as Trent slid down on the other side of Jason, his arm around Kira. Tommy sat down on Adam's other side, Rocky and Aisha in the pool between them, while Kimberly grabbed hold of the wall on his other side.

"Coming in Billy?" Kimberly asked the last ranger without a single body part in the water. He shook his head.

"I have to make a phone call," Billy replied. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he told them. They nodded and waved him off, before sitting there in silence, just enjoying being together. Kira began to hum a bit, before murmuring something about definitely being the winning color. Conner just dunked her under water, and the water fight from the morning automatically resumed, at least until two enormous shadows were cast over the water engulfing them.

"Hey! You're blocking the sun!" Rocky growled at the new comers. Two large women glared down at him which caused him to immediately back up, and slam into Zack.

"Watch where you're… oh." Zack trailed off, and nudged Tommy and Jason, then smiled up at the women. "Good afternoon, ladies." Both women just continued to glare. "Where's Billy when we need him," the first black ranger mumbled to his two friends. Tommy just shrugged, reliving the broom slamming against his head, and he back up even further, placing Jason closest to the women.

"What seems to be the problem, ladies?" the former red ranger spoke up, running his hand through his hair.

"There have been complaints!" the first one said, but it was nearly indistinguishable due to her heavy Swedish accent.

"Not surprisingly about you," the second added.

"Um… sorry," Adam asked, more than really apologized. He sensed there was something going on between Zack, Tommy, Jason, and the two women, and that they were probably bad news, but he couldn't really figure out what was going on.

"Sorry is not good enough!" the first one jeered, pulling a broom out. Tommy would have jumped out of the pool and ran for his life if he didn't think he'd had enough embarrassment for one day.

"Wow! Back off lady," Kim yelled, getting between the two hotel maids and the guys. "We said we were sorry, and we'll keep it down. Just put the weapon away and no one gets hurt." She was glaring at them with a fierce look in her eyes.

The two women just glared back, and the second one pulled out her own broom.

"Oh this is going to get ugly, isn't it?" Ethan whispered to Aisha. She just nodded, still trying to figure out if these women were usually this odd, or if they had a personal vendetta against the former rangers in the pool. Judging from her friends behavior she was willing to bet on the vendetta.

"Lady, I said back off," Kimberly hissed, climbing out of the pool. Compared to the women, she was a tiny speck, and yet she glared at them as if she were a hundred times bigger.

"You all must leave the pool now," replied the second of the women glaring at her.

"We will do no such thing. We're paying costumers. We have just as much a right to be here as the rest of these people do," she stated. Behind her she could swear she heard Zack mutter something about having even more of a right to be there. She folded her arms over her chest, and continued to glare. The first woman suddenly brought her broom down, attempting to hit the smaller woman over the head with it. Kim just her arms threw up and caught the broom stick, holding it back with more strength than the two larger maids would have given her credit for. Both stared at her in shock as she pushed on the broom stick, releasing it and sending the large woman stumbling back ward into the pool. "You just should have accepted our apology; then you wouldn't be all wet," she stated sweetly. Aisha, Trini, and Jason just stared at her a mixture of amusement and surprise on their faces. The others looked at her like she was this incredibly large, immensely scary, monster.

"Ok, now I know why Dr. O was scared of her. Today has been a major eye opener," Conner whispered to Ethan, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Now, ladies, if you'll excuse us, my friends and I are going to enjoy the rest of our day." With those last words she turned her back, swung her wet hair over her shoulder, and plunged back into the pool, resurfacing a good distance away from the maid who was climbing out of the pool with the aid of her partner, looking like a very large drowned rat. The other former rangers looked from the two women to Kimberly, shrugged to one another, and swam over to join her.

"Ok boys, what do you say?" Kimberly asked Jason, Zack, and Tommy sweetly.

"Thank you," all three muttered. Zack grinned and kissed her on the cheek.

"Kimmie, you're my hero!" he snickered, right before she splashed him in the face. She sighed and looked at the water proof watch she was wearing.

"Well, lunch was a bust," she stated, showing the display to Trini and Aisha. It was three in the afternoon. "How about we shower off and then do a little girl time?" she asked the two of them, who smiled and nodded.

"Kira, we're gonna hit the mall. Want to come?" Trini asked, turning to the teenager. Kira wasn't usually one to go to the mall, but at that point she was much more inclined to join Kimberly, Aisha, and Trini, than to spend the evening in the company of her male teammates, and her teachers male friends.

"Sure," she replied, as she followed them out of the pool.

"What do you guys have planned for the evening?" Kimberly asked, looking at Tommy and Jason. Both shrugged.

"Probably nothing," Jason responded.

"There's bar hopping," Rocky and Zack suggested at the same time. Aisha's eyes shot open.

"Oh no way. You are so not going bar hopping," she directed at her fiancé, poking him hard in the chest while he was on the ladder to climb out, which forced him back into the water.

"What if we promised to just go to the bar in the hotel?" Zack asked. Trini rapidly shook her head.

"Why not Trini?" Adam pipped in. It sounded like fun.

"Two reasons: one, you have three under age boys with you."

"But you let Kira have a drink Sunday night," Conner protested, but his whining just went ignored.

"And two, do you remember what happened the last time you spent some time at the hotel bar?" Trini finished. Zack, Jason, and Tommy looked down at their feet and nodded. "Kimberly won't be around to save your butts from the maids again, so no bars. In fact, no alcohol at all."

"Well, what are we supposed to do then?" Rocky whined.

"Pack horses?" Kim suggested to Trini and Aisha.

"It could keep them out of trouble," Aisha agreed.

"Not to mention keep them too exhausted to get into any trouble later," Trini added.

"What are you talking about?" Kira asked. Adam, Zack, Tommy, Rocky, and Jason were staring at the three of them with horrified looks on their faces. Conner, Ethan, and Trent seemed just as clueless as she was.

"You don't know?" Kimberly asked, frowning at her. "The boys are going to come and carry our bags. Aren't you boys?"

"No!" Tommy stated, but seeing her face, sighed and nodded. Why not? Why not go along and carry Kim's bags like he did when he was in high school? How about because they weren't going out anymore? How about because it was degrading? How about because when Kimberly went shopping she bought out the entire stores stock of just about everything?

"See, Tommy's agreed," Trini laughed. "Now we're gonna go shower and get ready. You all should go find Billy and tell him the plan for the evening. We'll see you in a bit." She waved innocently as the four girls disappeared into the hotel, the guys just staring blankly after them. How exactly had that just happened?

"Again, this is all your fault!" Adam said, splashing Tommy.

"No way. Its Jason's and Rocky's and Zack's," Tommy stated. "They're the ones who said we had nothing to do, then had to go and mention bar hopping."

"How about it's all your faults?" Trent offered. "Come on, I'll go get Billy. Maybe he can find a way out of this."

"Fat chance," Rocky muttered as they complied and followed the teens out of the pool. Rocky, Adam, Zack, Tommy, Jason, Conner, and Ethan all headed back into the hotel to shower off and prepare themselves for an evening of misery, while Trent went in search of Billy.

It didn't take him very long to find the adult standing against the wall, a cell phone to his ear. He was still chatting away.

"I know. I miss you too. Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't called; its been really hard to get any alone time. No I haven't told them about you yet; I don't think I will be. Yeah, they asked about it this morning; told them some story about working for the secret service. Of course I had to tell them something about leaving Aquitar; I couldn't very well tell the truth, now could I? What would they think? You're right. I really should have told them the truth, but how can I; they'd all hate me. Well, even if they wouldn't have, they're going to hate me now for lying. God, I felt so guilty telling them that sob story. Oh, told them you and the kids had died and I had to leave. Hey, don't give me that; what'd you want me to say. The truth! They can't handle the truth. If they knew Jason, Zack and Trini would be in morph in seconds, and Tommy, Rocky, and Adam would be hunting for their zeonizers. I can't handle it if anything happened to them, Cestria. I can't tell them that Aquitar was destroyed and that we fled for our lives. I can't tell them that its partially my fault. No, it was my fault. I should have seen it coming. You know I don't think Earth's in danger, but even still, if they knew about Aurico and the others. Yeah, you're right. Love you too. Tell the kids I'll be home in about a week and a half. I promise, I will. Ok. Love you. Bye." Moments after he hung up the phone, he spun around to find himself face to face with one very stunned teenager. "Trent! Hi!"

Trent just took a deep breath. "Billy, I know it's not my place to say anything, but,"

"You're accurate, it's not your place." Billy cut him off, frowning. He wasn't angry with the teen for hearing his phone call. More just angry with himself for letting the boy hear.

"Billy, what ever it is, you should tell them the truth. Remember what happened to Dr. O?"

"Believe me Trent; what I haven't told them is a lot more severe than being a power ranger again."

"You haven't been, have you?" Trent asked, raising an eyebrow. Billy just shook his head.

"No, of course not. I haven't apprehended any command since my Triceratops coin." Billy told him. "Don't worry. I'll tell them in due course. I just needed someone to converse with," he indicated his cell phone. Trent sighed and nodded.

"Well, if you need a practice run, Kira, Conner, Ethan, and I would be happy to lend our ears."

"Thanks. I may acquire your services when the opportune moment arrives. Now you were looking for me for an actual purpose?"

"Oh yeah. The other's have gone back to the rooms to shower. Kimberly, Trini, and Aisha are taking us all to the mall."

"Oh no. Kimberly and a mall is not a superior object of entertainment." Billy stated more to himself than to Trent. "And I suppose it would be Tommy's fault that we're all being brought along."

"Yep. Any way we might get out of it?"

"Afraid not. Once Kimberly decides something, it'd be suicide to go against her. Come on then. Better get ready to go so we don't get into trouble." He stated, laughing a bit and leading the teen towards the hotel. "So, did I miss anything at the pool? I heard shouting?"

"Oh, the maids from the other night showed up to yell at us for being noisy. Kim pushed one in the pool."

"Ouch."

* * *

Wow… I honestly didn't expect this chapter to be that long. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. At least Tommy's having a bit of a better day now that his friends are laying off the teasing (for the moment) and the teens don't want to kill him anymore. But what exactly is Billy hiding? What did he do? What problems are going to arise at the mall? And will the male rangers make it our alive?  
But, just one more mention of the request at the beginning of the chapter. I would love to know your opinions on turning "Out of Hope" into a multi-chapter fic, detailing the mini stories that show up in Jason's portion of the story. Anyway, pm me, or leave me a review or something.

And lastly, Thanks as always in advance for reviewing Requiem. It is by far the most successful story I've ever written and that's due to you all. I'm planning on posting some stats at the beginning of the next chapter. Thanks guys.  
Fateless Wanderer


	14. I Wish I Was Not A Power Ranger

I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy with work, family vacations, and moving back to college for the year. But I hope this chapter is good enough to make it up to you all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How much trouble do you think we're in for this evening?" Ethan asked Conner as they left the adult guys behind. The group was yelling at Tommy for getting them into this mess, although he swore it was Rocky's fault. Rocky just kept his mouth shut. Conner glanced back over his shoulder as he inserted the room key into the door, as he shrugged.

"Dunno. Seems kinda bad though, from the way the guys are freaking out," he replied as they entered their room. "Dude, did you leave the shower running?"

Ethan frowned and shook his head as the distinct sound of the shower running came from behind the bathroom door. He went over to it and tried the knob. "Locked. You think Trent could have beaten us up here?"

"Not a chance," Conner replied. "Someone's in there though. At least I hope someone is. Otherwise we're in trouble."

"But who?"

"Kira? She has the key right?"

"Damn it. And when we're late, Dr. O is going to blame it on us too," Ethan complained. Conner just smirked and shook his head as they heard the shower start in the adjacent room. The argument in the hall must have ended.

"Not if I can help it" he said, digging through his pocket until he found a paper clip. Minutes later, he'd concocted a virtual lock pick, and quietly got the bathroom door unlocked. He slipped back over to his suit case and pulled out a long rubber item. "Thought this might come in handy," he laughed, showing the object to Ethan who grinned, and watched as his former leader cracked the bathroom door, and plopped the item down on the floor inside before relocking the door. "Now we wait."

"You're evil."

"She's going to get us in trouble. Fair is fair."

"What's fair?" a voice said as the door to their room reopened, and Trent let himself in.

"Nothing," Ethan lied. Trent just gave him an uneasy look and then shook his head.

"Who's in the bathroom?"

"Kira. She decided to use our shower instead of hers," Conner informed him, leaning back against the head board of his bed, crossing his legs, and folding his arms across his chest.

"Too many women in one room. Oh well, I'm sure Dr. O will let us use his if we're going to run late," the former white ranger replied as he sat down on his bed and began to take off his shoes.

"Didn't think of that," Ethan replied, casting Conner a look. The teen just shrugged and flipped on the TV. Trent joined him, and Ethan kept casting worried looks toward the bathroom door for the next ten minutes or so. Suddenly a loud piercing scream rang through the room causing Tommy, wearing only a pair of boxers, his hair dripping wet to come running in. Trent was on his feet with worry, rushing toward the bathroom door. Conner was trying not to laugh, while Ethan turned green.

The door swung open revealing a very angry looking Kira, a large towel wrapped around her body, her hair loose on her shoulders. In one hand she clutched her clothes and shower items; in the other was a long rubber snake. "CONNER! YOU ARE SO DEAD!" She yelled, tossing the snake at her teacher, and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Trent and Tommy just stared at Conner, who had turned the same shade of green as Ethan.

"I think she meant it," Tommy whispered. Trent just nodded, and Conner gulped.

"Shit."

"Can I borrow this?" Tommy suddenly asked, indicating the snake. Conner didn't look up, but just nodded anyway, clutching his head in his hands, as Trent disappeared into the bathroom, muttering about staying out of Kira's way when she extracted her revenge.

Tommy mumbled a thanks, and left their room through the same door Kira had, glancing down the hall, to see the girl knocking on the door she shared with Kimberly, and shook his head. He was going to leave this one to the kids. Better for him to stay out of it; besides, he already had Kimberly to worry about; but right now he was going to start making good on his promise to get every single one of his friends back for their incessant teasing.

Luckily the elevator was empty, and he had no trouble reaching Zack's floor quickly. Gaining entrance to the room was a bit different.

"Tommy?"

"Let me in Billy," he replied simply.

"Why? Trent didn't send you did he?"

"What? Why would Trent… never mind. No, this has nothing to do with you," he replied, showing the former blue ranger the rubber snake in his hands.

"You wouldn't! That's just mean. Remember the Island of Illusion?"

"Of course. Where do you think I got the idea?" Tommy retorted, shouldering the door open wider. Billy just sort of let him in, taken back by his former teammate's ruthlessness.

"He almost disappeared!" Billy pleaded, but then shook his head, remembering the ice and shaving cream from the other night. "Alright, but I had nothing to do with this."

"That's fine. But either play along, or leave," Tommy replied. Billy studied him for a minute, and shook his head.

"I'll play along," he replied as Tommy set the snake down on top of Zack's clothes on the bed, then sat down on the bed beside Billy and just began to talk to him normally, just about his flight in from Washington, and what it was like having to be a ranger again, as the sound of the shower stopped. A few minutes later, a boxer clad former black ranger opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Hey Tommy. What are you doing down here?" Zack asked as he meandered over to his bed.

"Jason was in the shower, and it only takes me a minute or so to get dressed, so no worry about being late. Figured I'd come down and see you guys."

"Oh," Zack responded, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head, and pulled his pants off the bed, revealing a long coiled snake sitting on his black T-shirt. His scream was louder than Kira's.

"Zack? Calm down man, what's wrong?" Tommy called, trying not to laugh.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? There's a huge ass snake on my bed!" he hissed, backing up against the far wall.

"Zack, there's nothing but a t-shirt on your bed," Tommy replied, looking at his friend as if he'd lost it.

"It's right there! It's fuckin huge! Billy you see it, don't you?"

"Sorry Zack; but Tommy's right. There are no enormous reptiles on your bed. Perhaps you need to rest."

"I don't need to rest! I'm telling you, there's a giant snake on my bed. Why can't you two see it?" Zack was shaking by this point, almost worse than he had been the night before. Tommy just looked at Billy and shrugged.

"Zack, maybe you need to lay down for a while?"

"I don't want to lay down. Fuck, I don't want to be in this room," he argued.

"Fine, why don't you put on your shirt and we'll go up to my room while Billy showers?" Tommy suggested, picking up the shirt (snake included) and handing it towards Zack, who screaming and smacked the shirt away, his hand colliding with the rubber as it fell to the floor and Tommy doubled over laughing. Zack stared at him and Billy for a few moments.

"You sadistic asshole," Zack replied, a mixed expression of fear and amusement entering his face. "You nearly sent me into a coma."

"Told you I'd get revenge," Tommy responded, still laughing.

"Billy?" Zack pleaded for help.

"Relax Zack, no danger of disappearing this time," he snickered.

"You two are horrible."

"We know," Tommy laughed, picking up the snake. "Gotta return this to Conner. See you guys in a bit," he added, heading out of the room, still laughing. One down. Several more to go, and he'd still have to watch out for Kimberly, but oh well, he'd still managed to get the best revenge ever on Zack. He was ready for whatever tonight would bring.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where do we start?" Aisha said grinning, as she clutched Kimberly's right hand, while Trini held her other. Kimberly had Kira's hand in a near death grip. The three adult women were grinning as if they were kids in a candy store. Kira looked unsure. Behind them, all of the guys wore worried expressions, although Conner's showed fear as well.

"I don't know; there's so much to choose from," Kim responded, giggling.

"What do you guys think?" Trini called over her shoulder.

"Home!" Jason and Rocky responded. Trini and Aisha grinned at them.

"They're just mad because we stole their credit cards," Trini explained to Kira who looked from the fuming red rangers and back to the women then gave an unsure nod.

"How about you girls go shopping and we'll wait here?" Adam suggested, very glad that Tanya was in England at the moment.

"Nope. You guys could get into trouble," Kim responded, letting go of Aisha and giving him a pat on the cheek. Adam just rolled his eyes.

"Actually, we could let Adam and Billy off the hook," Trini argued.

"HEY!" came the simultaneous responses from Tommy, Jason, Rocky, Zack, Ethan, and Trent. Conner figured it was best he keep his mouth shut at that point.

"We could, but that could cause problems," Aisha indicated, Kimberly and Trini nodded. Kira was seeing them in a whole new light.

"So, lets start at Victoria's Secret," Kimberly giggled. The other girls smiled.

"NO NO NO WAY! That's where I draw the line, Kim." Tommy stated clearly. "I've put up with this whole idea, but I draw the line at underwear."

Kim just looked at him for a moment, her face devoid of any smile. She bit her lip, and nodded, but Tommy didn't miss the distinct look of longing in her eyes. "You're right. That'd be going a bit too far," she replied. "We're just friends." She added, as if to remind herself.

"Kim…"

"No, it's alright. Trini, you and Aisha take Jason and Rocky, and Adam to Victoria's Secret. Kira and I can hit the music store with the other guys."

"You sure?" Trini asked her.

"Definitely. Come on Kira. Let me show you how it's done," she laughed (although it was slightly forced), taking the teen by the hand and dragging her in the opposite direction, Conner, Ethan, and Trent trailing behind.

"Idiot!" Jason hissed, and slapped Tommy upside the head.

"What'd you do that for," Rocky added, and followed Jason's lead. Tommy just looked at them, rubbing the back of head, as they and Adam walked off with the other two girls, both who shot him disgusted looks.

"We're just friends," Tommy insisted to Billy and Zack who stood on either side of him.

"Sure," Zack replied, as they began following the teens. "You have to admit, she looked hurt."

"She did," Tommy replied. "But we agreed. Just friends. It was her idea," he protested.

"Ahh, but what a woman says and what she really means can be two different things," his friend replied.

"Did you even suggest being more?" Billy added.

"No. It… I can't be." Tommy responded. He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off by his new friend.

"Hurry up you guys. We can't start shopping without you to hold the items," Kimberly called out grinning. Kira seemed to have finally gotten into the spirit as she was laughing as well, while her teammate wore looks that screamed for help.

"Tommy, just so you know, this is all your fault."

"Is not. It's Billy's." Tommy retorted.

"I wasn't even there!"

"Exactly my point. You could have talked them out of it." Tommy retorted. "Let's go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can hit the Jacuzzi and rest our sour muscles."

"They're going to need resting?" Ethan muttered to Zack. The older man just nodded, giving him a sad look.

"You'd have been better off going with Trini and Aisha. Kim's worse than the two of them combined."

"I heard that Zack!" Kimberly called from where she was showing a CD to Tommy and Kira. "I also heard about the snake incident. Don't think I wouldn't be so low as to let if find its way back into your bed."

Zack just shuddered, and drifted towards the CD racks along with the others.

"We're doomed," Trent muttered.

"They've even got Kira," Conner added. "Should have let Mesagog take over."

"Yeah, would have saved us the torture," Ethan put in.

"I heard all three of you! And Conner, you're still dead!" Kira hissed back.

"Sorry!" all three called to her. It was going to be one very long evening.

"What time do the stores close?" Ethan muttered to Tommy. The man just shrugged his shoulders.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours later, Kimberly, Tommy, Kira, and Trent stood in one of the food courts of the mall, debating what they wanted to eat. Kira held two bags in each hand, while Trent carried three more, one of which was his. Kim on the other hand held one small bag from Victoria's secret (only because Tommy had refused earlier; although he'd repeatedly tried to steal it from her. He'd even been the one to bring her to the store to try and make it up to her.) while Tommy carried about seven bags all from different stores. Granted, two were his own.

"So, what does everyone want to eat?" Tommy questioned the three of his companions. Billy and Ethan had disappeared when they'd passed by a computer store. They doubted they'd be seeing either blue ranger anytime soon. Zack and Conner had purposely gotten "lost" about an hour or so ago. Zack had said something about the ladies being very pretty in Angel Grove, and the teen was hooked.

"Ummm… Pizza?" Kira suggested. Trent nodded his agreement, but both Tommy and Kimberly looked a bit sick at the thought.

"How about you two go get pizza and we get something else?" Kimberly suggested, lightly hanging on Tommy's arm, weighing him down even more.

"Sounds like a plan," Trent said, nodding. "We'll get a table as well." That said, both teens disappeared in the direction of some open tables and the pizza place.

"So, what are you in the mood for?" Tommy asked the woman at his side. Kimberly just shrugged, looking around.

"We skipped lunch, but I'm not very hungry. Maybe a salad and a smoothie?"

"I know what you mean. Sounds good though," he told her, leading the way towards the right restaurant. When he got there, he placed the order for both of them.

"Do you want large smoothies, or extra large?" the acne faced teen behind the counter asked him.

"Uh… do you have anything smaller?" Kimberly spoke up from where she was positioned behind Tommy. The teen shook his head no, and explained that they'd run out of the smaller sizes earlier that day. Kimberly just gave an exasperated sigh, and looked up at Tommy. "Share one?"

"Yeah, sure. Make it one strawberry smoothie, extra large. And the two salads," he told the teen, and handed over his credit card.

"You already bought me a drink," Kimberly laughed a bit as the teen put Tommy's card through the machine. "You should have let me pay."

"Next time," he assured her, as one of the other employees brought their order up. Kimberly took it as Tommy replaced his card and then struggled with the shopping bags. "You can just pay off this debt you're building up with me."

"What debt?" Kimberly asked, leading the way to where the two teens sat on one side of a table. They'd gotten plenty of napkins, utensils, and straws for the four of them.

"Well, there's the drink, the teasing, and now the dinner."

"Ah, but you threw me in the pool."

"But you deserved that. I was only giving you what you so justly needed."

"What are you two arguing about?" Kira asked, effectively gaining the attention of the two adults before their friendly conversation turned into an all out battle.

"Nothing really. Just Tommy's desire to appear to be my boyfriend when he's not," Kimberly stated simply. Tommy stared at her for a second, slightly dumbfounded. "I'm kidding!" Kimberly laughed, noticing his face. His look of surprise and horror wasn't the one she was going for, but at least she knew where they stood. Friends. Friends who had once been lovers, and now were barely even friends. Wonderful. But that's what she wanted, right?

"Why do you only have one smoothie?" Trent asked accusingly looking at his science teacher. Tommy paled, but then straightened.

"The sizes were too big. Neither of us could have finished one on our own," he stated, sticking two straws in the smoothie and bending one so he could tell it was his. "Now, any more questions; or can I enjoy dinner in peace."

"No more questions," Kira told him, a small grin spreading on her face as Tommy and Kimberly both leaned forward and began to take sips from their drink. "Don't think you're going to get any peace though, Dr. O," she added.

"Aww… look they're so cute!" came Rocky's familiar voice. Kimberly and Tommy instantly jumped back. "Please, don't let us disturb you," he added as he and Adam plopped down into chairs at the table and both put their load of three bags each down and began to massage their sour arms.

"I swear, you'd think Aisha would leave me be now that she's engaged to you," Adam mumbled. "So, sharing a smoothie? What'd we miss?"

"Nothing," Kimberly stated, slightly embarrassed.

"But I think you both lost something," Tommy told them dryly, sitting back and crossing his arms across his chest. Just what he needed: to explain what he was doing caring Kim's bags around the mall, buying her dinner, and engaging in sharing a strawberry smoothie, and let's not forget, they're only friends. Rocky and Adam just gave him questioning looks. "Your minds," he responded to their silent questions. "Maybe Zack's borrowing them."

"Haha," Adam retorted. Rocky just grinned, stole his fork, and grabbed a bite of his salad.

"Come frog-boy, I know when we're not wanted," Rocky stated with mock hurt. Adam just stared at him, pleading to stay put for just a little.

"As hurt as I am, Rocko, my feet are in too much pain. Your fiancé just ran me ragged, and I plan to stay in this seat until feeling returns to my legs."

"But I'm hungry," Rocky pouted.

"So, go get your food. I don't need to hold your hand." Adam stated simply, reached down into one of the bags, and pulled out book and started to read, as Rocky went off in search of the pizza place. Every so often, Adam would add to the conversation that was taking place at the table, noticing that Tommy and Kimberly were now careful not to take drinks from the smoothie at the same time anymore. By the time Rocky had returned, Zack and Conner had dropped off their bags, and gone to get food, and the mood was still light.

Slowly the remaining rangers drifted in. Trini and Aisha arrived just after Billy and Ethan, who were still talking computer speak, so quickly that even Trini was having difficulty keeping up with their conversation. The only one still missing was Jason. Adam and Rocky explained that he'd left them to go in search of a rest room just before they found Tommy and the others.

"That reminds me, Tommy, why are you and Kim sharing a smoothie? I thought you were just friends?" Trini struck out at the former white ranger who just blushed. She was still extremely mad at him for what had happened when they'd first entered the mall.

"Trini, lay off," Kimberly stated harshly, protecting the man at her side. "We decided to split one because one was too much." Trini looked angry for a second more and then nodded. If Kim was alright then she supposed she should lay off, but Tommy wasn't getting away that easy. The moment she had him alone, she was completely prepared to give him the lecture of his life. It was time for the leader to become the subordinate, especially when it came to matters that he didn't seem to understand.

"Hey guys, what's with all the yelling?" the last of the group said as he finally arrived, three bags in hand. Two belonged to his wife, and the last was his.

"Hey Jason! Get lost on the way to the bathroom, bro?" Tommy laughed.

"Or did you try hitting on some other guy in the stalls since Tommy wasn't there?" Rocky stated without thinking. Jason's eyes went wide, and both Adam and Tommy slapped their foreheads, but prepared to stop the first red ranger from attacking the second if need be.

"What?" Trini laughed, not completely understanding what was going on. "What's he talking about, honey?" she asked, turning towards her husband who had turned bright red.

"I… uh… uh…"

Perfect opportunity number two had just struck. Tommy was even willing to take the heat of Rocky if he could totally shatter Jason's confidence in himself, not to mention his manhood, in one fell swoop. "Jase, we can't hide it anymore. Rocky and Adam already know, the other's might as well too."

Jason was staring at Tommy now as if his best friend was suddenly a fifty foot tall monster and he was stuck with a broken morpher and no way to call for back up. Rocky and Adam stared, mouth's wide open, and everyone else looked confused as Tommy stood up and placed his hand on Jason's and his other arm around the other man's shoulder.

"Kimberly, I'm sorry we can't be more than friends. I love someone else with all of my heart," Tommy continued. Laughter began to push forth from the two first black rangers, Billy and Rocky. Kimberly, Trini, and Aisha continued to look confused. The teens looked as if they were going to throw up, and Jason looked like he was going to explode.

"Trini; I'm even more sorry to you. I know you were happy with Jason, and I feel like it's all my fault, but Jason's begun to talk about divorce. At the end of these two weeks, we're going to get Jase fitted for a wedding gown and we're eloping in Vegas. We'd be thrilled if you'd agree to be the maid of honor."

The girl's finally caught onto Tommy's game, although they weren't sure what exactly had brought it about, but they were more than happy to play along.

"Oh Jason, I'm so happy I could be your first lover and teach you how to be a good wife. You're going to be wonderful for Tommy," Trini giggled, hugging her mortified husband around the shoulders and kissing his cheeks. The guys were laughing so hard there were tears in their eyes. Even the teens were beginning to laugh although they were still very disgusted with their teacher's antics.

"And I can't wait to do your hair and make up," Kimberly giggled. "My big brother's going to be such a lovely bride. I knew Tommy would find the perfect woman someday." It might have been going a bit over board, Kim thought, when she saw Tommy's smile falter for a moment, but he swiftly recovered from her statement.

"And I'll help plan your honey moon. Oh, Jason, this is so wonderful," Aisha laughed. That was if for any composure any of them had left. It took whatever was left of their free will just to remain in their chairs. And then something in Jason snapped, as if he'd jumped off a cliff with the bungee cord attached to the top, and as he hung their, several stories off the ground, he began to feel the cord start to fray and suddenly it broke apart completely sending him into the sharp, painful rocks below. Not wanting to be wounded by the sharp stones, he did the only thing a man of his nature could do. He fought back. Jason snapped out of his daze and before anyone knew it, he shoved his left fist straight into Tommy left eye, and then his right fist into the former white ranger's jaw, sending the unprepared man flying several feet backwards.

"TOMMY!" Kimberly shouted, alarmed as she ran towards where he lay sprawled on the floor, unable to open his eye as he whipped the blood that leaked from his mouth away from his chin.

"JASON!" Trini scolded. He just spun around and looked at her, anger apparent in his eyes. "Don't give me that!" she hissed. That was it; she'd had enough of the childish behavior that was coming from her two friends. In all the time she'd know them, neither had ever acted in such a way. Jason made to walk away, but one look from Trini told him to stand still. "Kim, is Tommy alright?"

"I'm fine," the white ranger called back, anger in his voice had replaced the humor from moments before.

"His mouth finally stopped bleeding, but he's having difficulty opening his eye," Kimberly amended, getting a half glare from the man on the floor.

"To bad," Jason muttered angrily. All laughter had ceased when Jason threw his first punch. Rocky and Zack were pretty sure the only reason Tommy hadn't jumped to his feet and hit the man back was because Kimberly had been on top of him seconds after his feet left the ground.

"Shut up," Trini hissed. "You," she said pointing at Tommy. "I've had enough of you tiptoeing around Kimberly, and acting childish all the time. And you," she whirled around until her eyes fell on her husband. He met her gaze with one of his own. "You took things way too personal. Now I don't know what issues you had, but you're going to resolve them, or you'd better find someplace else to sleep tonight, and the next night, because you're not coming back in the house until you do. Jason and Tommy are going to remain here and talk over whatever issues they have. The rest of us are going to go check out the power rangers celebration advertising area on the other side of the mall. You can find us there when you're both ready to act like adults."

With that said, Trini picked up all her bags and began to walk off. Kimberly stood to follow, as did the rest of them, knowing that Trini didn't normally take charge like that, but when she did, it was best to listen. Even Jason and Tommy obeyed, remaining in place as the last of their friends drifted away, and the rest of the mall patrons turned their attention away from them once more.

"Trini said talk," Tommy stated, pushing himself to his feet. Jason looked at him, his eyes still cold.

"So talk," he responded, sitting back down.

"Why'd you hit me like that? Geeze, you're allowed to tease me, but no one can tease you? What, are you above it all?" Tommy growled, sitting down across from his 'friend'.

"You wouldn't understand it."

"Try me," Tommy retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. With his swollen eye, and blood red mouth, he looked quite comical.

"When I met up with Trini at the pound, we were both looking for a dog. I wanted one for a guard on the Dojo, but Trini needed one for companionship. Anyway, long story short, she told me she was moving back to Angel Grove, but still didn't know where she was living. I had a spare room, and you know I always liked Trini as more than a friend." Tommy could only nod at this moment; his anger at being hit dissipating. "Anyway, I offered her a place, and we ended up adopting Alpha and Zordon. She moved in shortly after."

"What does that have to do with you hitting me?"

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, the dojo wasn't completely finished yet, and the head of the construction crew had been spending a lot of time around the house. A little too much time; took me a while to realize that he thought that my being polite and nice to him was a way of flirting. Unfortunately, he wasn't against men flirting with men, and began flirting with me, and I still remained blissfully unaware. Unfortunately, Trini wasn't." Jason continued.

"Are you telling me that Trini thought you were in some type of relationship with the head of the construction crew working on your dojo?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. She finally approached me about it one night after he left. I spent the entire night trying to convince and assure her I was very much into women and had no idea what had been going on. Then I got to spend the entire next day convincing the construction head that it was all one big misunderstanding. I didn't want to fire him because the work was almost done, and I have nothing against that way of life, its just… well, when the woman you're in love with thinks you swing in other directions," Jason tried to explain.

"No need… I understand. Bro, if I'd known…"

"Sorry I hit you. Gave you a nice shiner, didn't I?" Jason said with a bit of a grin.

"Lucky shot," Tommy laughed back. "Besides, I wasn't ready, so it was also a cheap shot. But really, no hard feelings? I mean I didn't know. And you have to admit, it was kind of funny."

"It would have been funnier if Trini hadn't been there. I'm really protective of my heterosexuality around her, only because I'm afraid of what she'll think. Tommy, I don't want to lose her."

"Jason, relax. You're not going to; You're in love. Really in love." Tommy assured him.

"So were you and Kim," Jason argued. And that's when it finally hit him. That was the reason why Jason and the other's wanted him and Kimberly back together so badly. They had been the standard. "If you two couldn't make it, what chance do I have with Trini? What about Rocky and Aisha?"

"Jason, you guys are adults. You're ready to be in love. You're ready for this. Kimberly and I were teenagers. We barely knew what love was." Tommy argued. "Besides, you're not me. You're Jason Scott, and Trini isn't Kimberly."

"Are you going to try and get her back?" Jason asked. Tommy shrugged. It was only Tuesday. They were only just now becoming friends. He truly didn't know what he wanted, but he wasn't going to just let it go.

"I don't know. It's a possibility. Sometimes it seems she wants me back, and other times it seems that she wished I were far, far away. Same for me I guess. There are points when I want to take her and kiss her, and other times when I wish I could put her on a rocket to the moon. Its complicated."

"Well, it had better become uncomplicated soon, or at least stop acting like a kid every time she makes any type of advance, or Trini's going to beat you worse than I did."

"You have a point," Tommy agreed. "Now come on, lets go find the others before they get into trouble. I don't very much like the sound of a power ranger celebration area. Especially not with Conner there. He couldn't even keep my identity a secrete from you guys."

"Aww, he wouldn't be dumb enough to expose everyone. Aisha and Kim would snap him in two, and Trini would dispose of the remains," Jason laughed as the two began to walk down the hall. "By the way, that story?"

"As confidential as our identities bro; no problem at all. And me and Kim?"

"Thanks. And agreed. I'll help you in anyway you need."

"That's no what I meant," Tommy stated, but shrugged. "But fine. I accept." A few minutes of walking and they walked into one very creepy area. At least it was creepy to Jason and Tommy. A balloon arch stood at the entrance. At its base was a large cardboard cut out of the original six rangers. There were little kiosks selling figurines and t-shirts. Children were running around everywhere creating mock battles in their minds. The two men even stopped to see the large cut outs of the individual rangers with the helmets off and a cut out in place of the head where patrons could stick their own faces. Jason cringed as a little girl stuck her head through the whole on the red ranger.

"Shut up," he warned his friend who gave a slight laugh.

"Not saying a thing. Besides, despite the injuries you caused, I'd say I already got my revenge."

"Dr. O! Jason! There you guys are," Conner shouted, the four teens running up to them, each wearing a new T-shirt.

"You guys alright?" Trent asked them. Both men nodded.

"We're fine. What are you wearing?" Jason asked the four of them.

"Oh these?" Ethan asked, indicating his blue shirt. It had a picture of a Triceratops across it with black writing above it that said: I WISH I WAS THE BLUE RANGER. His teammate's shirts all followed the same patter. Kira in a yellow with a sabertooth tiger on it, Conner in red with the T-rex, and Trent in white with a tiger. "Rocky's idea. He made everyone get one."

"Everyone?" Tommy asked, knowing what was coming next. Kira nodded.

"Yep," she informed them. "Zack and Trini have yours."

"Goodie," Tommy whispered sarcastically. "You know, I'm beginning to think your wife is really working against me. I wouldn't be surprised if she was Lord Zedd in disguise."

"We heard that Dr. Oliver," Trini said slyly coming up behind them, and wrapping her arms around Jason, obviously not mad at them anymore. "You all better baby?" she cooed to her husband. Jason just nodded. "Good, put this on," she said handing him a shirt that was identical to Conner's, and as he saw the other's approaching, Rocky's.

"So where's mine?" Tommy said with mock jealousy. "I want one just like Trent," he laughed.

"Aww… isn't that cute. The one eyed ranger wants his shirt," Kimberly laughed.

"Haha," he snickered. "Now come on, give it to me. I'm feeling left out."

"Well, Zack, you heard him, give him the shirt," Aisha told the first black ranger who smiled and pulled a t-shirt out of his bag and handed it over to Tommy. From the main point in the center, seven different colored rays radiated outwards, each one, one of the seven ranger colors. In the center was the outline of a power coin although the dinosaur engraved on it was missing. Instead the depiction appeared to be engraved with the words: I WISH I WAS EVERY SINGLE RANGER.

"Oh, you guys are so funny. So very funny," Tommy stated dryly as he studied the rainbow shirt. He looked up to see all of his friends looking at him expectantly. "Well, if you can't beat them, join them." He stated and pulled on the shirt. Then entire group applauded.

"The first step to overcoming a problem is admitting you have one," Billy told him, throwing his muscular arm over Tommy's shoulder.

"Ok, see, now you're pushing it." Tommy laughed. "Now, if we're all through having fun, there's a Jacuzzi at the hotel with my name on it."

"Tommy's right, better turn in for the night. Rocky, Aisha, and I have a busy day tomorrow," Adam said yawning.

"Really, what are you guys planning?" Jason asked, throwing his one free hand over Trini's shoulder as he took her bags from her.

"We're going to go to the beach," Rocky put in as the group proceeded towards the exit. Tommy took all of Kim's bags without a word, and Trent was once again, carrying Kira's. Rocky and Adam had never put Aisha's down.

"What are you guys planning?" Aisha asked them, leaning against Rocky's shoulder as they reached the parking lot. Rocky opened the driver's side door of his jeep to let Adam in behind him, while Aisha climbed into the passenger's seat and hung out the open roof. Jason and Trini leaned against their car, Zack, Billy, and Kimberly waiting for Jason to open the doors. Tommy had taken up leaning against the hood of his car, listening slightly to the teens arguing over shot gun once again, his eyes exploring the parking lot, and locking onto a young woman and her young son as they walked towards what he assumed would be their car.

"Nothing as of yet," Kimberly informed them.

"You should join us then," Aisha stated, Rocky and Adam nodding vigorously.

"Ok then it's settled, we'll all go to the beach," Trini stated, opening her door. "We'll drop Zack, Billy, and Kimberly off at the hotel. I want some alone time with my husband," she stated. The group turned group.

"Too much information Trini," Zack stated, and Tommy nodded agreement.

"So, we'll meet in the lobby to go to the beach tomorrow at about 9?" Rocky asked. Everyone nodded.

"Wait? We're going to the beach?" Conner asked, looking slightly frightened. His teammates grinned and pushed him towards the back seat of the car. Things weren't getting any better for him; if not they were as bad as they were for Tommy who was still watching the little boy and his mother. The two had finally neared where they were all standing.

"Hey Mommy, that man is really confused. He doesn't know which power ranger he wants to be!" the child stated loud enough for the entire parking lot to hear. Tommy turned bright red, as everyone began laughing as the mother mumbled an apology and dragged her child away. Ok, so maybe things weren't as bad for Conner as they were for Tommy. They'd all just have to see how the next day went.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the delay everyone. I really wanted this to be good for you all. A lot of time and thought went into writing this. And just look, it's only the first Tuesday night; Still a whole other week and a half to go. Many more things are going to happen. More people are going to find out about Billy's secret… which is going to become more clear. Anyway, thanks in advance for any reviews you all feel like sending. And if you ask questions and I feel like I can answer them without ruining anything, I will answer. Hope everyone had a wonderful summer.  
Fateless Wanderer


	15. Curiosity Killed the Ranger

Ok, so I've probably lost my entire fan base being away this long, but that's ok, because while this story is here for you, it's also here for me. And think of it this way, the longer I don't write, the more creative my plot twists get. And I recently found a way to watch whichever episodes I want whenever I want, and let's just say that's going to make for some very accurate, very entertaining bits of comedy. Anyway, for those of you who are still here, I apologize for taking so long, and reward you with the next chapter. I hope it provides you with as much enjoyment as it has me. Oh, and for those of you who might have lost count, it is now Wednesday morning (still a week and a half before the actual celebration).

* * *

Kira lay in her bed beside Kim quietly staring at the ceiling as the first rays of sunlight gently trickled in through the window. She could here her current roommate breathing, still deeply asleep, and she sort of wondered how the former ranger could ever sleep that soundly.

Ever since she lost her powers, she'd be fairly unable to sleep. Actually, make that ever since she got her powers. She was always afraid some alien, or beast, or mutant experiment was going to attack while she slept soundly and take over the world. She supposed that feeling would go away in time since it was no longer her job to protect the world. The next time the earth was attacked, a new team of rangers, with stronger powers would step up to the plate. But then why did Dr. O tell her "once a ranger, always a ranger." Shouldn't it be more than just in spirit? Shouldn't it be more than just a memory of the powers that once blended with her DNA? Wasn't it still her responsibility to remain vigilant? What would they do if some alien attacked during the ceremony? How would it look if they ran away, powerless.  
Kira turned over onto her side and looked at her companion, who was shifting around her bed slightly. She let a smile creep over her lips. Perhaps the older ranger didn't sleep as soundly as she thought. Her internal musings were disturbed as the alarm clock between their beds went off. She waited until Kim registered that the radio was not the sound of her dream, and slowly opened her eyes, before turning off the annoying sound of some old school country singer; she didn't have anything against them or people who liked that type of music, it just wasn't her type of thing.

"Morning," she mumbled to Kimberly who was still brushing sleep from her eyes and seemed to be trying to register exactly where she was. Her face was slightly white. "You ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, just a bad dream. No big," Kim responded, still not making a move to get out of bed. Kira assumed it would be alright to get started getting ready then.

"If you say so," she replied, heading into the bathroom they shared, while Kim stood up slowly and stretched. The adult watched as the teenager disappeared into the smaller room before pulling a small duffle bag out from under her bag. She pulled out a small photo album and began to flip through the pages, running her fingers along the two re-occurring figures in each image. She wasn't sure why, but she felt it had something to do with her dream, which was becoming harder and harder to remember the longer she was awake.

She sat down on the bed and slowly turned each page, her eyes lingering over every photo for a least a minute as she listened to the sound of the shower going. Silent tears welled up in her eyes, but she made no motion to brush them away until the water running stopped. She quickly whipped her face with her sleeve and tossed the small book back in the light pink duffle bag and tossed it under the bed as Kira stepped out of the bathroom in a towel, her hair hanging damp over her shoulders.

"Your turn," she spoke cheerfully.

"Thanks, I won't be long; and then we hit the beach," Kimberly responded, happily, pushing thoughts of her dream and the photos out of her mind.

"Can't wait," the younger woman responded as Kimberly disappeared to get ready for the day. Kira smiled; maybe today would actually be a good day. Maybe Dr. O wouldn't turn red; although that seemed as likely as Conner not making some stupid comment at some point. She shook her head and proceeded to get dressed while simultaneously packing a beach bag. No matter what type of day it turned out to be, the former yellow ranger knew it was going to be a long one.

* * *

Jason woke up without the sound of the alarm clock. Infact it had been a really long time since he needed an alarm clock to wake him up. He typically woke up when the sun came up (excluding days he woke up in dark hotel rooms with shoe throwing roommates). He's purposely positioned his bed directly in line with the first rays of the sun, way before Trini moving in was even a thought. The days she'd spent sleeping in one of the spare bed rooms seemed so long ago. Thinking about his raven haired wife, he smiled down at the small figured curled up against his bare chest, her flesh rubbing against his. He placed his face in her hair and nuzzled her.

"Its morning," he whispered, slightly amusement in his voice.

"No its not," came the response. He gave a slight laugh, and pulled the blankets off her naked form. "HEY! Give those back," she glared, smiling at the same time.

"Rise and shine, my love," Jason laughed, getting out of the bed and stretching. Trini laughed and launched herself onto his back, running her hands over his peck.

"Last night?"

"Last night was amazing," Jason responded.

"Not jealous of Billy anymore," she questioned, as he turned to look at her. She bit his nose playfully, before his lips found hers.

"Not in the least little bit. Billy didn't get to play our games."

"No, and he never will," she replied with a giggle as he threw her back down onto the bed, pinning her there with the weight of his body.

"How about we skip the beach and have our own little party right here?" he said, sucking on her neck. Trini let out a moan of pleasure, her eyes half closed.

"As much fun as that sounds, I don't think the others will approve," she responded. Jason didn't seem to hear her. He was too busy finding all of her pleasure spots, a feat he was proud to say he knew how to perform very well. "Jason, are you listening to me," she asked, right before his lips found her stomach.

"Fun, approval, yeah, I heard you," he mumbled. She moaned again and pushed him alright.

"Alright, that's enough, Tarzan," she laughed, calling him by her pet name for him. Smiling, he picked her up off the bed and spun her around.

"Are you sure?" he laughed. She smiled and nodded, kissing his forehead.

"Positive. Now come, the shower will get lonely without you," she responded, leading the way towards the bathroom. Jason just smiled and followed her, turning around to look at the two boxers who lay on the floor amongst the sheets that had found their way into a pile at the end of the bed.

"Don't trash the room while we're gone boys," he told them.

"Jason, the boys don't trash the room, you do," Trini called back, pulling him into the bathroom and shutting the door.

* * *

Billy had woken up when the alarm went off, but Zack slept through it. The former blue ranger just laughed. Only Zack would give in to exhaustion and stay in bed; ok, well, maybe Zack and Rocky; and maybe Tommy, but he had an excuse since Kimberly had used him as her own personal pack mule the night before. Billy decided to make it a point to keep his friends from going anywhere near the mall at all costs, the main one being his sanity.

A half hour later, he was showered and dressed, and standing beside Zack's bed, trying to figure out the best way to wake his friend up without chucking a shoe at his head, or pouring ice down his pants, or placing a plastic snake in he face; although he was partial to the snake idea.

He poked his friend, and got nothing but mumbling in response. He shook him a bit harder, but once again, the former black ranger refused to abandon the world of dreams.

"Come on, its not like it was that rough of a day," Billy muttered to himself, sitting down in one of the two chairs in the hotel room. He looked over at his sleeping friend, who wore a slightly expression that usually accompanied a peaceful dream. Glaring, Billy spotted his friends communicator.

He supposed it would be mean to set it off, especially after what they'd done at the park; but if it was the only thing that would wake him up, then so be it. Billy stood up and pressed the sequence to set off Zack's communicator. One minute the black man was sound asleep in bed, the next he was diving out of his bed, rushing to find his buried morpher more out of habit that actually thinking there was an emergency.

"What! What's going on!" he stated, as Billy fell over laughing. Zack's eyes returned to normal size as they fell on his hysterical companion.

"Now I know how Tommy feels," he responded. Billy just continued to laugh, Zack's comment only causing him to laugh harder. "I hate you," he spoke. "You can sleep in the hallway tonight," he growled, grabbing his clothing and retreating into the bathroom, away from the howling Billy.

Only a minute passed before a voice came over the communicator Billy had in his hand, causing Billy to jump. Luckily Zack was in the shower, or he would have been able to laugh right back at his blue clad friend. "What's going on?"

"Adam?" Billy responded.

"Billy?"

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry Adam, I forgot your communicator has the same frequency as Zack's," Billy stated. "I needed to get him up and he was sleeping like he'd died."

"Thank god. You scared the living daylights out of me. Glad I didn't wake Aisha. She'd have killed you," Adam laughed into the communicator.

"Yeah; hey, if you had your communicator with you the entire time, why didn't you hear it the other night when we played that joke on the others?" the blue ranger asked his second black teammate.

"I keep it in a box with the rest of my ranger stuff, and we weren't in the hotel that night," Adam responded, as a small knock sounded on the door of his room. "Gotta go Billy, someone's knocking. See you in a bit. And warn people next time you're going to play with these things. They're not toys, you know," he laughed.

"Will do Adam, see you."

"Later." Adam stuffed the wrist watch looking device into the back pocket of his swimsuit and went to answer the door, incase it was one of the maids. Aisha had mentioned the news report about two rangers being spotted in the hotel, and he didn't need to be the one to cause anymore reports of suspicious activity from their group. He pulled the door open, only to find Aisha standing right outside it in a yellow two piece bathing suit, and a pair of jean shorts, a white T-shirt in her hand. "Hey, what's up."

"Not Rocky," she mumbled, looking angry, and pushing past her friend into the room before collapsing onto the still made, unused bed.

"Is he breathing?" Adam asked, laughing at her predicament, and thinking about Zack. He fished the communicator out of his pocket, and put it in the locked box located in the suitcase on his bed, before sliding the suitcase back under the bed. He didn't really see a need in carrying the piece of ranger technology around with him; that just seemed to get him in trouble. He'd sworn off carrying his morpher since he'd helped out Carlos by activating his powers without a power coin. He'd never experienced anything more painful than that. Aisha just looked up at him, one of her braids hanging over her face.

"Slightly," she responded. It was too early for complicated responses. She looked more than angry. She looked upset.

"What's wrong Aisha?" Adam asked, sitting down on the bed.

"I don't. I just had a really weird dream, and I wanted to tell Rocky and he wouldn't get up and now I'm just frustrated," she explained.

"What was it about?"

"I don't really remember," she stated simply. Adam frowned and squeezed her hand.

"Quit lying to me," he told her. Aisha gave him a small smile.

"I dreamt we were kids again, like the time with the orb of doom," she confessed.

"Oh boy. That was bad enough without dreaming about it."

"You're telling me. But instead of things going bad, they went much, much worse. I dreamt that Goldar attacked us head on that day at the water park, and we were powerless. And… and… and he didn't make it."

"Who? Who didn't make it?"

"Rocky. I dreamt Goldar killed him, Adam. What if Goldar had killed him?" she sobbed into his t-shirt. Adam paused, slightly stunned. He blinked for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her sobbing frame.

"Its ok, sha. Its ok. He's alive. We all are, I promise you. Goldar couldn't have killed him. Not even in a dream. He was never strong enough to beat us; you know that. Come on," he whispered to her, rocking her back and forth in his arms. Aisha just continued to cry.

"Alright, what are you doing, fondling my fiancé?" came a voice from the doorway. Rocky had pushed the door open and was leaning against the frame in a pair of red boxer shorts and socks. The moment she heard his voice, Aisha pushed away from Adam's chest and ran across the room. She paused directly in front of his smiling form, glaring up at him. Adam wince at the sound of her palm colliding with Rocky's cheek, hard.

"DON'T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, ROCKY DESANTOS!" she hissed, storming out of the room and into her own, slamming the door behind her.

"Ok, so want to explain to me what I did to deserve that?" Rocky asked Adam who came to stand beside him as he rubbed his sore flesh and stared after the angered woman. Adam shrugged.

"You turned into a kid and died," his friend replied. Rocky blinked and stared at himself, extremely confused.

"Why don't I recall this?" the former red ranger asked. Adam just stared at him, wondering if his friend was dazed enough to actually be serious. He just shook his head and turned back to go into his room and finish packing for the beach. "Shit."

"What?"

"She locked me out," Rocky responded. Adam just snickered.

"I suppose that's what you get for dieing on her," he responded as Rocky drifted into the hall way. He supposed it would be cruel to lock Rocky out of both rooms so he left his own propped open incase the red clad man decided he was tired of standing in the hallway in a pair of bright red boxers.

* * *

Tommy was determined not to be late, and he was determined not to let Conner, Ethan, or Trent make him late. He was also determined not to let any of them leave the hotel with his express permission, something he'd made clear before he let the three of them go once they'd all returned to the hotel. Tommy, himself, had not gone directly to bed, but had taken a trip to the hot tub like he'd promised himself to relax his sore arms and do some thinking.

Thinking could be dangerous. He didn't really want to think, but maybe he really needed to. His conversation the night before with Jason was what renewed his ideas of thinking. Maybe he should talk to Kimberly more. Ask her directly if she thought she wanted to be more than friends. He didn't think it was as simple as Jason and the others seemed to think it was, but finding out the truth could be a step in the right direction. Maybe he did want to take her into his arms and hold her close. Maybe he did want to kiss her ad breath in the familiar scent of her shampoo from her hair. And maybe it had just been the fumes from the hot tube making his thoughts go to forbidden places.

He'd dragged himself out of bed the next morning, quickly showered, dressed, and packed his bag for the beach. Next he'd gotten all three of the teens awake, and refused to leave the room until they were all visibly active. He'd even made it a point to stick his head back in to make sure they were doing what he said the moment he left the room. He'd caught Conner trying to go back to bed, and with the simple mention of the word floss, the former red ranger dashed into the bathroom and started the shower.  
Pleased with himself, and the way the day had started, he grabbed the ice bucket from his room, and proceeded to the ice machine, a place he hadn't ventured to since Kimberly chose the first night to sneak up on him. After that, he'd usually sent one of the boys. Today, he didn't seem to care if he ran into her. Unfortunately, the seventh floor ice machine was out of order, and he was forced to go down to the sixth floor to get what he needed. He found a working ice machine as expected, but also found something unexpected: loud commotion, doors slamming, and a half naked Rocky standing in the hallway with a red hand print across his face.

"Rocky? What's going on?" Tommy asked, walking up to his former teammate. The man shrugged, still rubbing the stinging spot on his cheek. "Let me see that," Tommy insisted, hissing at the severity of the mark. He handed his friend a piece of ice. "Aisha?"

"Yeah. She walked up, yelled at me for scaring her and slapped me, then locked me out of the room."

"What did you do?" Tommy asked.

"Do? I didn't do anything. I woke up, and found frog boy snuggling with her."

"I resent that!" Adam called from inside his room. Tommy frowned and pushed the door open, finding the former black and green ranger sitting on the bed watching the morning news. "She was hugging me. And its not my fault Goldar killed you," Adam responded, going back to the television screen.

"Come again? Goldar?"

"And once again, I ask, how can I be dead?" Rocky protested. Adam just shook his head.

"I don't think its my place to tell you everything. You need to ask Aisha," Adam insisted.

"And how do you suppose I do that. I'm locked out remember?" the former red ranger retorted, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Fine. Aisha had a dream about the orb of doom stuff last night. She dreamt we'd all regressed, and that the day at the water park, Goldar attacked and killed Rocky. And well, our bright Ape here didn't wake up, and for once he wasn't snoring. She freaked out."

"She dreamt what? Oh crap!" Rocky shouted, jumping off the bed and flying out the door, past his stunned former leader who remained in the doorway. The next thing they heard was Rocky bagging on the door, apologizing profusely, promising Aisha that he was very much twenty seven, and very much alive. He also assured her that if any killing was to be done, he'd be the one killing the bad guys and protecting her. The whole ordeal was a bit too sickly sweet for Tommy's liking so he closed the door and stared at the man on the bed.

"And you had to wait until now to give him that bit of information?" Tommy asked Adam who shrugged. "That was fairly mean." Again he got a shrug. "Anything you want to tell me?"

"Not really."

Tommy glared at him, took a step towards the door, then sighed, and stepped between Adam and the TV.

"Move."

"Not gonna happen buddy," Tommy responded. "You might be able to fool everyone else, but you can't fool me. You served longer than any of the others with me. I know you pretty well enough to know when something's bothering you."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean I feel like sharing."

"No, it doesn't. But we're all seeing each other for the first time in a long time, and while we might not feel comfortable expressing our feelings anymore, nothing gives us the right to take those feelings out on one another. I should know, I almost let my feelings hurt Kim."

"You did what?"

"We sparred, she brought up some painful memories. The next thing I know, I'm yelling at her about the letter and flipping her over my head with the strength normally reserved for kicking Goldar's ass."

"Tommy…"

"Don't worry about it Adam, just don't let your feelings stay inside to long. Talk to any of us; call Tanya if you need to. Its been a long time, but we're all still friends, still teammates. We have the ultimate secrete, keeping one more isn't going to be difficult," he added, grabbing his ice bucket off the desk where he'd set it down. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make sure three teenaged former super heroes are getting ready to go to the beach."

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I won't let it get to me, I promise."

"Didn't think you would."

"And by the way," Adam called after him. Tommy turned around and looked at him, half way out the door. "Go change. I don't care if your secret's out in the open; black belongs to Zack and I this weekend." Tommy looked down at his black swim suit and T-shirt before chucking an ice cube at Adam, hitting him dead in the middle of the forehead.

"Be glad I don't drown you at the beach, frog boy."

"Like you could," Adam retorted, laughing.

* * *

Two hours later, Kimberly and Aisha were laying in the sun out on the beach; Billy, Zack, Adam, and Rocky were playing a game of two on two volley ball (with Rocky and Adam winning); Kira, Ethan, and Trent were having races in the water; Tommy sat near the girls, making sure the volley ball didn't hit them, and reading a book on dinosaur DNA and SUCCESSFUL experiments; and Conner sat on a blanket under a tree staring at the water, his knees pulled up to his chest. Trini and Jason slowly walked up to the group, a large beach bag in Jason's hands.

"Hey bro, I thought I was the late one?" Tommy teased as the two greeted the group. Trini decided Aisha and Kimberly had the best idea, and settled down beside them, while Jason joined Tommy.

"Yeah well, there were problems with the shower," Jason responded.

"Water main break?"

"No, the water was fine. The space was just a bit confining. I've got to build us a bigger shower."

"Alright, alright, please just stop talking."

"Awww, and I disturbing you?" Jason teased.

"Just a bit. I mean I still think of Trini as one of my sisters, and well, ack, I can't think of you and her, and oh god, its just wrong," he stated, not completely coherent, but Jason got the gist of what he was saying, and just laughed in response.

"So what's your little red ranger doing?" Jason asked, nodding towards the teenager who had looks of fear and longing written all over his face. Tommy shot the teenager a look just as the other three decided they had had enough of swimming in the ocean. Conner joined them as they made their way over to the group. The other four continued their game, even though Billy and Adam were getting tired. Rocky and Zack refused to stop.

"Not sure," Tommy responded. "Hey Conner," he said as the teens sat down. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"How come you didn't go in the water?" Adam asked, finally abandoning Rocky to join the others, Billy right behind him. It didn't take more than a moment before the second red and first black rangers realized playing a game with just two was difficult and retired as well.

"I just didn't feel like it alright," the teenager shot.

"Conner's never swam in the ocean before," Trent supplied.

"Shut up," Conner hissed, pushing his teammate.

"Cut it out," Tommy butted in. He didn't need, nor did he want either of the two trying to kill one another once again, and from the looks of things that's where this was headed. "Conner, swimming in the ocean's no different from swimming in the pool, and you did that fine yesterday." Conner just met his eyes for a moment and then looked away.

"I'm confused," Rocky stated.

"Conner just learned to swim a few weeks ago," Ethan supplied explanation, as Conner blushed bright red.

"Actually the day Trini and Jason called, we were still in the processes of brushing up his skills," Kira added.

"It was actually quite entertaining to watch, especially day one," Tommy put in.

"Yeah, wasn't that the day Kira flashed the old lady, Ethan split his lip, you busted that kid's rubber duck, and we almost got banned from the pool?" Trent asked.

"Oh, now this I have to hear," Zack stated with a laugh. "You broke a little kid's duck? That's almost worst than creating aliens who want to destroy the world," he directed at Tommy, who glared at him. "I said 'almost' didn't I?"

"Fine whatever. But the kids can tell this one, I'm not in the mood to provide you with more amusement myself."

"Do we have to tell this one?" Conner begged. His teammate smiled and nodded.

"Think about it this way, if we tell it, you don't owe us anymore," Ethan stated.

"Oh no, he still owes me. That was the lady who works at the cash register at the grocery store. I can't go buy food without getting evil looks from her," Kira protested.

"Alright, well, you don't owe me or Dr. O anymore," Ethan laughed. Conner sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not getting out of this one, am I?" he asked his teammates, all who shook their heads along with the adult male rangers. The three women muttered 'no's, but remained motionless on their beach towels, only half paying attention.

"So it was about a week after graduation, and summer vacation was off to a pretty dull start. We'd lost our powers and there weren't any monsters running around town for us to beat up even if we had them," Kira started, laughing a bit a Conner. "So we did what any other teenagers would have done in our place."

"Get jobs?" Billy asked them amusement in his voice.

"Nope, we hung out at Dr. O's," Ethan grinned, throwing his arm over his teacher's shoulder, only to get a 'I can figure out a way to bring back mesagog look' in return. Unfortunately, with all the other adults around, Tommy's glare sort of lost its bite, and the blue clad teenager remained smiling, either not caring about the glare, or not really noticing it.

"Which as soon as we get back to Reefside is going to stop," he put in, using his own hand to remove Ethan's arm from his shoulder.

"Aww, why?"

"Because you're annoying as hell," Tommy retorted.

"No we're not," Ethan argued. Tommy just rolled his eyes, refusing to participate in the conversation any further. He was not about to be accused of having a childish argument with someone half his age.

"So back to the story," Trent picked back up, seeing his mentor's reluctance to talk to Ethan any further. The adults were all smiling, quite amused at the prospect of four teenagers being the one thing that could send their former leader over the edge. Jason was pretty sure Tommy would have rather been dangling above a pit of hot lava then sitting in his house with only Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent for company. "After about a week of sitting around his place, eating his food, and pretty much just hanging out, Dr. O suggested we all go to the pool. I think he kind of hoped the house would clean itself while we were gone."

"I still say you should have left me behind. I could have cleaned," Conner put in.

"Then you would never have learned to swim," Ethan argued.

"Your point?"

"And you would have missed all the fun," his friend added.

"I really don't see the fun in being grabbed by the arm and nearly thrown out of pool club for good."

"That's because you were water logged."

"Right," Conner said, giving Ethan a look that said he wasn't sure if the former blue ranger still had all his senses about him.

"So while Conner and Ethan carry on their little argument, how about explaining how Tommy busted that poor kid's duck?" Jason asked the teens, and Tommy hit him.

"Well, we got to the pool, and had to drag Conner in. For the first hour he refused to leave the lounge chairs and just sat there looking incredibly bored and hot. Dr. O suggested he sign up for swimming lessons, but the oldest kid was like eight. I think that's the only time I ever saw Conner attempt to punch Dr. O," Kira supplied. "All that did was to cause Conner to be thrown into the pool, something that didn't go over very well, as he kept thrashing around."

"I had to pull him to his feet and prove to him that he could stand in three feet of water," Ethan laughed.

"Yeah, well, you would have freaked out too if you thought you were going to drown. Its not like I was really processing anything. I thought Dr. O was trying to kill me."

"Conner, if I wanted to kill you I would have done it a long time ago," Tommy laughed, enjoying that the embarrassing story was not directly about him for once. Conner gave a bit of a squeak and moved farther away from Tommy, something he seemed to be doing a lot of.

"I don't want to die," he muttered, hiding behind Kira, who frowned and hit him with a soft squishy ball they'd been playing with in the water.  
"So, Conner didn't drown, but it was quite funny to watch him freak out about being in the water," Tommy continued. "Well, it was funny until a little kid swam boy and knocked him off balance."

"Once again, Conner was underwater, thrashing about, and none of us could get near him. Kira finally got close enough and offered her hand down to help him up. He grabbed it and thrust himself up and out of the water, the crown of his head colliding straight with Ethan's chin, and sending Kira flying backwards," Trent continued. "I made it a point to avoid Conner for the rest of the day since Kira was fuming mad, and Ethan's lip wouldn't stop bleeding."

"It stopped," Conner protested.

"Yeah, once the life guards placed the clear bandage over it."

"No big deal man," Ethan assured his friend, clapping the former red ranger on the shoulder.

"Well, after that it took a lot of persuasion to convince Conner to get back in the pool, and well, Kira and Trent basically gave up, and went off on their own, leaving Ethan and I to deal with the swimless wonder."

"Haha," Conner said sarcastically, crossing his hands over his chest. Tommy just laughed.

"I got into the pool, and Dr. O snuck up on Conner and pushed him in. Unfortunately, Conner spun around and tried to push him back. Conner ended up tumbling backward into about ten feet of water, while Dr. O got knocked backwards into a group of little kids, and managed to step on the four year olds toy duck. One second later, the kid is wailing at the top of his lungs, and the mother is smacking Dr. O in the head with her bag."

"Tommy, that's low," Adam told him, laughing.

"Yeah, well, it was Conner's fault."

"You pushed me first! Besides I nearly died that time."

"You did not, Ethan dragged you to the shallower water."

"After I almost died!"

"Conner, you did not almost die!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so infinity!" Conner yelled, sticking his tongue out.

"ENOUGH! I want to know how Conner lived," Aisha broke through the argument the two were having.

"Better listen to Aisha, you know how hard she hits," Rocky told Tommy who winced mentally, and nodded to the kids to continue.

"Well, Ethan managed to get Conner to where he could stand, which unfortunately was a bit too close to Kira and I. Conner reached up out of the water and grabbed hold of Kira's shoulder. She happened to be talking to one of the grandmother's of the kids she babysat at the time."

"I already apologized for this."

"Doesn't make up for it," Kira retorted.

"Well, sort of missed her shoulder and managed to grab the straps of her bathing suit instead, pulling on them to get himself into a standing position, and consequentially untying her top. She didn't realize anything until the old woman let out an angry scream." Ethan supplied. "I'd never seen Kira turn that red before. She didn't even hit him or yell at him. She just ducked down into the water, fixed her suit, gave him a look and ran off."

"Took an hour to find her," Trent added.

"And then we had to find Dr. O," Conner put in. "He'd gotten himself backed into a corner by the kid's father, and nearly caused a fist fight."

"Nearly? The guy punched me in the eye," Tommy protested.

"Yeah, but you could have done a lot worse to him," Trent replied, "Despite that he was bigger than you."

"Well, at least I had a vote of confidence."

"No problem," Ethan supplied. "So we managed to get Dr. O away before he got more than a black eye, and we were going back to the lounge chairs when we were approached by the life guard who was flanked by the mother and the old lady, and we were politely asked to leave and never come back."

"Dr. O managed to talk the life guard into a three day suspension, and we left," Kira stated. "Only to have Ethan bite down on his lip and split it back open. We spent the afternoon in the emergency room so he could get stitches."

"Wow," Billy stated.

"I don't even want to think about how you managed to cause that much trouble," Rocky told them.

"They seem to have a knack for creating more problems then they solve," Tommy told his friends.

"Hey!" the teens protested.

"We weren't talking about the kids," Zack told him.

"Tommy, face it, you're a walking disaster area," Kimberly told him, propping her head up in her hands. Tommy just smiled at her and stuck out his tongue which she reciprocated playfully. "Ok, so story time's over. You're blocking the sun," she told the guys. Trini and Aisha muttered agreement and the guys sighed.

Jason and Tommy were recruited for a rematch in volleyball, and the teens finally managed to persuade Conner to a least go knee deep into the ocean.

About an hour later, Aisha and Trini decided they'd had enough of the sun bathing and went to join the guys, who were arguing over who should be on who's team next.

"You don't ever stop, do you?" Trini asked them, hanging her arms over Jason's shoulders. He shook his head and kissed her lightly.

"Nope. Arguing just comes pretty naturally." Zack told her, getting a punch in the shoulder from Billy. "Hey, that hurt you know. I mean, ever since you turned into Godzilla."

"I am not Godzilla," Billy protested.

"Yeah, he's missing the scales. More like King Kong if you ask me," Rocky laughed, hugging Aisha around the shoulders, and peering down the beach. "Hey, what do you suppose is going on down there?" He nodded to an area half way down the stretch of sand.

"Not sure," Tommy answered, shielding his eyes from the sun, and squinting. "Want to go check it out?" There was a big area being roped off and filled with mats. Several tables and trophies were being set up around the ring.

"Sure," Adam stated. "Kim? We're going to go see what's going on down the beach. Want to come?"

Kimberly just turned to look at them, then their destination, and then shook her head. "I think I'll stay here. I'll keep an eye on the troublesome four in the water," she supplied. Tommy nodded a thanks, and the group of eight proceeded down the beach.

"Looks like some sort of tournament," Rocky supplied when they were close enough to read the banner that arched up over the arena reading: Angel Grove Charity Karate Tournament.

"How observant of you Rocky," Billy stated, causing every to laugh, even Rocky, as they walked up the one of the people setting up.

"Hi, my friends and I were wondering what was going on here?" Aisha asked the young man. The man couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He finished setting up the table in his hand and turned to look at the group.

"Well, it's a – GUYS!" the youth shouted throwing his arms around Adam who happened to be the closest to him, looking at the former black ranger from under a mop of brown hair.

"Justin?" Adam laughed, pushing the kid off him. "My god, I don't believe it. Its little Justin."

"I'm not so little anymore," Justin argued, hugging Rocky, Jason and Tommy as well. "I figured you guys would be showing up but I had no idea I'd run into you here."

"Uh, Tommy, mind explaining who this is?" Trini asked. Aisha frowned, looked at Rocky and Adam then back at the 'kid' in front of her.

"This is Justin?" she asked her fiancé.

"Yep, the one and only kid genius and the youngest power ranger ever," Rocky answered, clapping his successor on the shoulder. "And quite a good karate student at that."

"Alright, I'm confused, explain," Zack ordered.

"Well, you guys know about the Zeo powers. They weren't strong enough to use when Divatox kidnapped Jason and Kimberly, so Alpha and Zordon gave us new, powers, the Turbo powers." Tommy told them.

"But there was an accident earlier that day, and Rocky hurt his back. He had to give up his place on the team, and well, Justin over heard us talking in Rocky's hospital room," Adam supplied.

"Rocky told Alpha to give him the blue ranger powers, and well, Justin became a ranger." Tommy finished.

"Yep," Justin laughed. "Where are Kat and Tanya?" he asked, frowning and looking around.

"They're in England. We don't think they'll be here for the ceremony," Adam told him.

"Well, that sucks," Justin told them. "But its great to see you guys. Who else is here?"

"Just Kimberly, and Tommy's newest teammates 'The Dino Thunder Team'," Rocky replied.

"No way, you were a ranger again? Recently?"

"Yes," Tommy sighed, not really wanting to go through this again.

"Let me guess, Black this time?"

"What? How did? Never mind, I don't want to know," Tommy stated, shaking his head. "So, tell us what's going on."

"It's a charity three on three karate competition. $25 to enter, and all the money goes to the youth center to help provide the kids with free lessons."

"You teaching now, Justin?" Adam asked him. The former ranger nodded enthusiastically.

"I've got to pay my lessons back some how. I figured, you guys taught me, maybe I could teach the next generation. Oh, but you guys have to enter. It'd be really great."

"I don't know," Tommy stated.

"Come on you guys, let's do it. It'll be for a good cause, and it'll be fun," Aisha told them. "Justin, sign Rocky, Adam, and I up."

"What? Aisha, I never agreed," Adam started.

"Come one, we're reliving memories. What better way to remember than by doing something we were doing when we first met Tommy and the other's."

"She has a point," Rocky supplied, signing the sheet Justin handed him. Adam smiled and nodded, accepting the sign up list from Rocky, signing it and handing it to Aisha.

"What about you guys?"

"I'm in," Tommy said, putting his name under the next group of three. Jason took the list from him and put his name on, before attempting to hand it to Zack. Trini snatched it from his hands and put her name directly under his.

"What about you two? Zack and Billy right?" Justin asked. Both men nodded but declined, saying someone had to be there to nurse the other six back to health when the exhibition was over.

"So Justin, when does the competition start?" Tommy asked him, as the group handed over their participation fees.

"In about at two o'clock this afternoon. Be here by one thirty," Justin told them. "Oh, and they'll be free food from twelve to two for the participants. Five dollars for those not taking part."

"Free food?" Rocky said, his eyes getting wide. "Count me in," he added. "I knew there was another reason I signed up to do this."

"Wait to go Rocky, still thinking with your stomach," Billy laughed.

"We'd better get back and tell Kim and the other's what's going on," Tommy suggested. "We'll be back later, and we'll introduce you Justin," he told his former teammate. Justin nodded and shook his hand, waving to the rest of them.

"See you guys in a bit."

* * *

A little while after they'd left Tommy's cell phone started to go off. Kimberly went to call him back, but they were already down by the set up, so she reached into the beach bag and pulled out the phone, seeing the name Haley on the screen. She figured the teens would want to talk to her, so she answered the call.

"Tommy Oliver's phone, Kimberly speaking," she said cheerfully into the phone.

"Um… hi," Haley replied, slightly caught off guard.

"Hi, you must be Haley. Kira's told me about you," Kimberly continued.

"That's funny, Tommy's told me all about you," Haley retorted, a bit of anger in her voice. Who did this woman think she was? Befriending Kira; Answering Tommy's phone and acting like it was normal when she hadn't even seen him in almost ten years?

"Oh, he did?" Kimberly asked confused. What had he told her?

"As a matter of fact he did. He told me how horrible you were to him when you were in highschool. How you broke his heart in a letter, and never even considered that he might have been hurt. And how you never tried to get in touch with him and talk about it."

"Uh… not that this is any of your business,"

"It is too my business when conniving bitches try to worm their way back into the lives of men just because they're lonely, only to use them and drop them like dirt. And it definitely my business when the man happens to be my best friend," Haley yelled at her, loosing all patience. She didn't like that Kimberly was there with Tommy and she wasn't there to protect him. "Just do him a favor and remove your demon claws from him and from the kids. Go back to wherever it was you came from, and stay out of their lives. You're only going to hurt him again," she stated, hanging up the phone, leaving Kimberly sitting there stunned, the phone still to her ear as the teens came out of the water.

"Hey, isn't that Dr. O's phone?" Kira asked. "Who called?" The girl's voice snapped Kimberly out of stupor, but didn't prevent her eyes from watering with tears.

"Oh, um… it was Haley. She'll call back later," she stated, brushing her eyes with her sleeves. She didn't want them to know she was upset. What Haley was right? What if all she could do was cause pain and hardship in Tommy's life? What if her being there was hurting all her friends? What if they were all mad at her for the letter she wrote to Tommy? What if she was hurting the teens?

"Cool," Trent replied. "Where'd the other's go, anyway?"

"Down the beach to see what was going on," Kim replied, looking in the opposite direction.

"Fun," Conner stated, fishing around in some of the bags, "I'm hungry, do we have any food?"

"Oh, yeah, Trini brought snacks," Kimberly told him. "Help yourself."

"The others are coming back," Ethan said, waving to them as they neared. The guys broke into a jog, while the two girls continued to walk, and plopped down in the sand beside the teens and Kimberly. "Hey Dr. O, what's up," Ethan asked.

"We've got lunch taken care of, and Tommy, Jason, Trini, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha are going to compete in a charity Karate tournament this afternoon," Billy supplied.

"Really?" Kira asked, excited.

"Really," Trini assured her as they caught up. "Aisha and I figured we'll show these guys how its really done."

"That's if you win," Jason told her.

"But you're going to be facing each other," Adam put in.

"Oh, right. Forgot about that part," Aisha laughed. "Oh well, it'll be fun anyway."

"So what was that about lunch?" Conner asked them, causing everyone to laugh, comparing the teenager to Rocky. No one seemed to notice that Kim was off in her own little world, refusing to even look at Tommy let alone speak to him.

* * *

Ok, so that's longer than I thought it was going to end up being. And yes, I know, Haley's being a real bitch, but she has her reasons, I assure you. She's just being really protective (and it makes for a good story line). Anyway, I'm on fall break this weekend, so chapter 16 may be up by Monday or Tuesday, I hope. If you think things have been bad between Tommy and Kimberly before, you haven't seen anything yet. And how is the Karate Tournament going to go? Who's going to win? And was it really a good idea to enter?

Oh, but one thing to say, don't ask how many of the former rangers will be making appearances, because I really don't know. Justin's part just sort of happened. It was originally just planned out to be some random person (actually it was a woman) but I decided it should be Justin at the last minute.

One more bit, I wanted to do some stats:

As of this chapter, Requiem is my longest story, chapter wise.  
Chapter 2 is the longest in words  
Chapter 1 has the most reviews: 21, with Chapter 10 behind at a close 20  
And chapter 13 has the most hits since about the middle of the story.  
I kind of want to see if Chapter 15 can break any of those records, but we'll see.

Hope you all enjoyed.  
Fateless Wanderer  
(oh, and I was looking over some of my reviews and someone seemed to believe I was a guy, so I just want to specify for the record that I am very much a girl.)


	16. Please Tell Me We Weren't Just Exposed!

Sorry, sorry, sorry… life keeps getting ahead of me and then there's school, and homework, and I really have no excuse except writers block, but I hope you'll all forgive me. Also I haven't really been looking forward to writing this chapter. I want to write the ones that come after, but this is just a necessary bridge, so please, read and enjoy. And again, I'm _so_ sorry.

Oh and one more thing: I want to apologize to Haley. I don't hate her. I don't. And there's a reason behind the madness… I just can't tell you why… yet.

* * *

The last bit of the morning was dragging by. Or at least it was for Rocky who had to be persuaded to leave his watch on the towels and stop looking at it every two minutes in order to go into the ocean with the others. Currently he, Adam, Zack, Jason, Billy, and Tommy were engaged in a game of "keep the ball from hitting the water" which is pretty self explanatory.

"Are you sure _it's not_ time yet?" Rocky whined as Adam dove to hit the beach ball.

"Rocky, it was only 11:50 the last time you asked, which was two minutes ago," Billy answered him.

"So?"

"Well, if you asked two minutes ago that makes it what time?"

"11:52, I'm not a four year old."

"Could have fooled me," Tommy laughed, only to get a face full of salt water, that he was nearly positive came from Rocky's direction.

Billy just rolled his eyes and hit the ball towards Zack when it sailed in his direction. "And lunch is at 12:00 so you still have eight minutes until lunch, so relax and hit the ball."

"Fine, but I'm hungry, and it's not like I'm the only one," the former red ranger argued.

"Rocky, you're giving Reds a bad name," Jason told him, purposely guiding the ball so it would strike Tommy square in the head. Unfortunately Tommy saw it coming, and managed to stop it, sending it careening into Zack's nose.

"What the heck was that for?" Zack muttered, and then shook his head. "Never mind, I don't need to know," he added as the three teenage guys waded into the ocean. As they neared the older rangers, Ethan and Trent hung back, allowing Conner to approach Tommy on his own. He shot his teammates a look that accused them of abandoning him in the deep depths of Mesagog's lair.

"Yes?" Tommy asked him, eyebrow raised, beach ball of doom clutched in his hands.

"Well, you see, we were, that is… is it time for lunch yet?" Conner managed to spit out. Rocky burst out laughing as the others just stared. If they'd been cartoon characters, there would have been large drops of sweat on their brows.

"Make that, Rocky and Conner give Reds a bad name," Jason amended his previous statement, and sighed. "Let's go get the girls." The others nodded and began to wade back out of the water, leaving a very confused Conner standing in the shallows.

"What the hell did I do?" he asked Ethan and Trent who just shrugged.

"I think they've lost it," Ethan remarked, and Trent nodded before rushing off to find Kira.

"Hey guys, you ready to go?" Zack called to Trini and Aisha who were sparring in the sand. Both had decided to get in some light practice before the tournament. Aisha nodded as she brought Trini down into the sand with a round house kick.

"How many times did Rocky have to ask before you decided it was time to get going?" Trini asked as Aisha helped her up.

"About 30," Tommy replied, looking around for Kimberly and his charges. He saw Conner and Ethan throwing T-shirt's on over by their towels, and Trent was helping Kira apply another coat of suntan lotion to her back, something he wished she'd ask one of the other girls to help her with, but Kim wasn't in sight. He frowned slightly. She'd been avoiding him again, she was sure of it. But why now? Everything had been fine when he'd left to go over to the tournament, but when he got back, she'd been really aloof. Maybe Conner said something stupid? It wouldn't have been the first time.

"Tommy what's wrong?" Billy called, noticing his friend searching the area.

"Have you seen Kim," was the only answer he received. Billy frowned and shook his head. Come to think of it, he hadn't. She'd just sort of disappeared. "I'm not sure I like this."

"Relax, she's probably fine," Billy replied, but he agreed, something was off and he didn't like it. Granted, neither wanted to voice what the other was thinking.

"You two coming or what?" Jason shouted after his two teammates.

"Gone on a head, we'll catch up," the former blue ranger yelled back to him, knowing Jason would ignore him. Two seconds later, Jason was beside him, a questioning look on his face. "Kimberly's gone missing," Billy stated simply. Jason's gaze got tense as he looked around.

"Surely you two don't think," Jason began, gazing over his shoulder and watching the others head toward the tournament, probably lead by Conner and Rocky's growling stomachs.

"Well, what are we supposed to think?" Tommy stated, angrily. On one hand Kimberly had just wandered off without telling him, which wasn't very nice, but on the other hand someone or something took her. It wasn't the first time she'd disappeared and Tommy never liked it when she did.

"What are you three doing?"

Tommy, Jason, and Billy jumped at the sound of a voice behind them. "Kimberly," they all shouted, Jason throwing his arms around the small woman. Some how she'd snuck up behind them. "We thought… oh never mind."

"Are you three sure you're ok?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Just fine. We were looking for you though. Its time to go to lunch and the tournament," Tommy stated, coming up beside her. She averted her eyes to the ground and nodded.

"Ok, let's go then," she muttered and began walking a head of the others. Billy and Jason scowled at Tommy who shrugged, and jogged to catch up to her.

"Hey, are you alright? Did something happen?" he asked, falling into step beside her.

"No, I'm fine," she shot back and took off jogging. "I'll meet you there," she yelled back. Tommy just stopped walking, staring after her. Had she been crying? What was going on? And why was it suddenly his fault?

"Guys, something weird is up with Kim," he muttered as his friends reached him, and he fell into step with them.

"Just because you managed to piss her off again," Jason told him.

"That's just it," Tommy answered. "I didn't. Something happened while we were with Justin. She got like this when we got back."

"Maybe she resents you for leaving her behind?" Billy asked. Tommy just shook his head. It was possible, but he really did doubt that Kimberly was upset about that. After all, hadn't it been her idea to stay behind?

"I don't know. But this is really making my head hurt." He said as they reached the tables. The rest of the group was already seated. "And I really don't want a head ache," he added, sitting down with the others, and handing Justin the money for the four teenagers. It was going to be a long afternoon, that he was sure of.

* * *

The group had chosen a table back out of ear shot of the remainder of the tournament patrons, that way they could take without worry of being over heard. They'd finished eating around the time that the matches began. Fortunately, the tournament was set up by age groups, and the former rangers weren't scheduled to spar until later on. Thus, they could sit back and relax, and just enjoy watching other people beat each other up. Billy was fiddling with a small device in his hand.

"What's that Billy?" Trini asked him.

"Oh this? I made it on Aquitar. It's a secret pen. I can write any secret I want with it in another language, and if I ever decide that it isn't secret anymore, it'll become English so it can be read," He explained.

"Can I try?" Zack asked him.

"What secret could you possibly have," Jason asked him as Billy handed over the pen and Zack pulled out a napkin and began scribbling in French and then showed it to Conner, who he was sure couldn't read French. The teen squinted at the writing.

"First of all, your penmanship is horrible. And second, now I wish I'd taken French instead of Spanish, in high school."

Zack grinned while still holding the paper up to Conner. "Now what Billy?"

"Now you have to tell someone your secret and then tell them that they don't have to keep it a secret."

Zack nodded and leaned over and whispered into Tommy's ear. Tommy's face grew wide with shock. "You didn't?" he blurted out, as Zack said the last crucial words. Suddenly Conner burst out laughing.

"Aw, man. Why didn't I ever think of that," the teenager complained.

"Zack! What did you do?" Trini threatened him.

"When we were in school I morphed and pretended I was chasing a monster through the halls and that it just happened to lead me into the girl's locker room during the beginning of sophomore gym."

"YOU DID WHAT!" Kimberly, Aisha, and Trini shouted at him.

"So that was you?" Jason and Tommy were laughing as Zack handed the pen back to Billy who was grinning.

"Nice invention," he told Billy. Billy just nodded.

"How about another story?" Kira pleaded, leaning over to give Trini her best puppy dog eyes, hoping to take the woman's mind off killing Zack. The older yellow ranger just laughed but it had obviously worked.

"Oh alright," Tommy answered instead. "But how about one that doesn't make me look like an idiot?"

"One that doesn't make Tommy look stupid?" Zack said, "I don't think there are many of those."

"What about that one time before Tommy joined us? You know where Billy's invention backfired," Jason suggested.

"No, no, we really don't need to talk about that," Billy stated.

"Ditto. No way do I want to relive that," Kimberly put in. Tommy raised his brow.

"Something tells me I want to hear this story," he stated. Kimberly blushed bright red and the smile she had vanished. Tommy sighed but turned back to the others. "Why haven't I heard this before?"

"Because Billy and Kimberly made us swear we wouldn't talk about it. Come to think of it, they made us promise not to speak about the time Rita turned them evil either," Trini told him.

"Evil?" Ethan asked, casting surprised looks at the seemingly innocent blue and pink rangers. Their teammates just nodded.

"Wasn't a pretty site, either," Zack said shuddering. "They scared the pants off Bulk and Skull."

"Scared the pants off me too," Jason commented.

"Not to interrupt, but pick a story. I want to hear this stuff," Tommy said, draping an arm over Billy's shoulder. His friend just cast him a look. "Sorry Billy, but if I had to go through it, it's definitely someone else's turn."

"But you never got turned into a girl," Billy protested. Tommy's mouth just fell open and he backed up. This had to be one very strange story.

"So I guess from the look on Tommy's face we're going with the invention story?" Jason asked. Kimberly groaned. "Well, we still don't know the cause of the backfire, but we think Rita had something to do with it. This was a short time before Tommy moved into the neighborhood. Anyway, the day started normal enough. Billy was working on his new invention to allow people to read each others minds, and Kimberly had agreed to help him."

"Something I would never ever do again," Kimberly interjected getting grins from the other three who'd been there.

"Oh, and we found out later that Bulk and Skull were spying on us," Billy put in. When everyone looked at him, he sighed. "Might as well help tell the story if it has to be told. No point in letting you guys mess it up."

"Or make it worse than it was," Kimberly added. "Not that it could have been."

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Jason continued, laughing.

"I convinced Kimberly to step into the machine with me, and when I flipped the switch, well, lets say we could technically read each other's mind," Billy interrupted him again.

"Unfortunately, that was because they were in each other's bodies," Trini took over, laughing as Kimberly scowled at her and threw a piece of tomato from her salad at her friend.

"You switched bodies with Billy?" Aisha asked, astounded. Kimberly just nodded meekly. "What was it like?"

"Horrible!"

"Not like being in your body was any picnic," Billy retorted.

"Guys, you're grown ups, remember?" Adam asked them. "Stop acting like Rocky."

"Ouch, that hurt, frog boy," Rocky laughed. "So they switched bodies? I know that can't be the end of this.

"Well, what do you think happened? Rita sent down a monster to attack us; some creepy Genie thing." Zack told them. "But before that, Bulk and Skull decided to test Billy's device. We still haven't figured out how they didn't see what happened to Kimberly and Billy. Needless to say, they switched minds as well, and as far as we know spent the next few days or so as each other."

"What about the monster?" Conner asked.

"Didn't attack right away," Kimberly informed him. "This was kind of bad, since that meant we had to go to school as each other, since Billy didn't know how to fix the machine yet."

"And school was rather interesting," Trini laughed, causing her two friends to shoot evil glares in her direction. Tommy smiled; at least they weren't being aimed at him.

"Billy should not have been allowed to try and put on makeup," Kimberly stated. "It took me a week to prove I knew that lip stick goes on my lips and not all over my face."

"I'm a guy! How was I supposed to know," Billy retorted. "Not like you did any better."

"Ahem! Children," Adam scolded the two of them.

"CAN IT FROG BOY," Kim and Billy snapped at him at the same time, causing the whole group to fall into laughter for several minutes, including Adam.

"So back to the story. And this part I only know from what Kimberly told me," Jason put in. "She was supposed to be helping one of Billy's students with a computer project and she managed to make the whole computer explode!"

"To this day I don't know how I did that, and I know a heck of a lot more about computers."

"I don't even know how you did it," Billy laughed. "But to top it, I made Kim's cooking project explode as well. And that made more of a mess. Let's just say we were not meant to attempt to live each other's lives. Not by a long shot."

"I'll second that," Kimberly put in.

"And I'll third it. It was painful just to watch," Jason told them.

"Not to mention confusing as hell. I should add that Jason, Trini, and I still didn't know anything about the switch."

"We caught them yelling at each other in the hall and that's how we figured it out," Trini explained. "Confusing and slightly frightening is the best way to describe it. And so of course that's when Rita sent her monster."

"Zordon sent us to the park to retrieve the lamp, which we did," Zack told them. "Then we went back to the command center to figure out what it was and why it was their. Should have been obvious, but well, with Billy and Kimberly all out of whack, we weren't really thinking straight."

"Come to think of it, we sucked and sucked badly the first time we tried to battle the genie that Zordon told us was in the lamp. Zordon had Alpha teleport us out of the battle before we'd even had the chance to touch him," Billy told the others, causing snorts of laughter from the other veteran rangers.

"Definitely not one of our finest moments," Kimberly agreed. "A few words about teamwork from Zordon and we were back off to kick some Genie ass."

"I still say we could have figured it out on our own," Zack muttered. Trent patted the older man's shoulder and laughed.

"The genie grew," Trini put in.

"Why am I not surprised," Rocky added, and the others nodded agreement. It seemed like no matter what, one of Rita's monsters was growing to tremendous heights and rampaging around Angel Grove. "Let me guess, you called the zords?"

"Well it was either that or get stepped on," Jason informed him. "It turns out though, that the Genie's power came from the lamp, which Alpha had back at the command center."

"So Zordon and Alpha decided to zap it in the teleporter, but they had to be careful because too much power would destroy everything in the morphing grid, which sort of included us at that point," Kimberly explained. "And Alpha wasn't known for being the most careful robot," she added for the teens who'd never know the small mechanical creature. They seemed to have gotten a good notion about him from the stories, though.

"Fighting ensued, we ended up on the ground with a big drill threatening to enter the cockpit of the megazord. Not a happy situation," Zack put in.

"And?" Conner asked.

"And what?" Zack asked him back.

The red ranger sighed and shook his head, exasperated. "What happened?"

"Oh, Alpha destroyed the lamp, and the genie disappeared. That was the only way to beat him."

"So what exactly did you five do?" Aisha asked.

"Basically just kept the monster too busy to destroy Angel Grove and nearly got ourselves killed," Trini told them. "Oh, and Billy figured out how to fix him and Kimberly. This was good, because it was getting creepy."

"I never want to go through that again," Kimberly stated.

"Kimberly, there's a lot you don't want to go through again," Trini informed her friend.

"Yeah, well this in particular," she said and then leaned in. "Do you know how hard it is to pee standing up?"

"WHAT?" Billy shouted. "You… you… you saw me naked?"

"I had to go to the bathroom!"

"_I_ held it!"

"You did not… did you?" Kimberly argued back. Billy turned pink and turned away. "Ok, I think I'm going to be sick again."

Tommy, who'd been extremely quiet during the entirety of the story, slapped Billy on the back of the head.

"What was that for?"

"For seeing Kimberly naked."

"Don't remind me," Kimberly said, turning slightly green.

Billy just scowled at him, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, we switched back and Bulk and Skull came forward begging to be switched back and that was basically the end of that. Everything was back to normal."

"Nothing will ever be normal again," Kimberly stated, trying to digest the new bit of information. Well, she sort of always knew it, but since it'd never been said, she's sort of lived in denial for the past few years.

"Kimberly,"

"Trini really, not a good time."

"I was just going to ask you to keep an eye on my purse," she laughed. "You sure you're ok, because Justin's coming and I'm guessing it's our turn."

"Yeah, I'm good," Kimberly smiled back. "I got your purse. Want me to hold yours too, sha?"

"That'd be great Kim," Aisha added, standing up as Justin reached their table. He looked at all of them.

"I'm going to guess I missed something really funny, and leave it at that," he told them. "Anyway, it's your turn. Whoever wins this will face the winner of the other two teams in this age group, and the winner of that gets the really big trophy," he laughed.

"Couldn't it be food instead?" Rocky joked.

"Doesn't matter to me, so long as we have fun," Tommy laughed, stretching, Jason nodded.

"I just want to work off some energy," he added.

"Jason?"

"Yeah, Trin?

"I _want_ that trophy," she stated.

"Um, I'll do my best to see that you get it," Jason answered.

"You don't seem to understand. I _will_ have that trophy." Jason gulped and took several steps away from his wife who smiled sweetly at Adam and Rocky, but shot death glares at her two teammates as if promising to make their lives living hell if she didn't get the trophy. The two men gave their friends pleading looks of their own.

"Don't look at me," Rocky stated. "I've got Aisha to worry about."

"As do I. You know what she's capable of," Adam addressed Tommy. Aisha, who was talking to Kira hadn't heard a word of the exchange, which was pretty lucky for them.

* * *

A half hour later, the six were sweating up on the mats while the other seven watched.

"How much longer until they beat each other's brains out?" Conner asked, leaning back on one of the picnic tables.

"Could go on for hours," Billy put in.

"Days," Zack added.

"Weeks," Kimberly stated. "What?" she asked when they looked at her. "Aisha and Trini both want to win this thing. Hey Justin?" she called over to the young former blue ranger. He'd said his hellos at lunch and had even had a short conversation with Ethan and Billy and ranger technology. The other three kids seemed to like him as well.

"Hmm?"

"There a time limit on these things?"

"Unfortunately, no. Ouch!" he answered as he watched Tommy send Rocky flying off his feet. The red ranger didn't stay down for long, and a few seconds later, it was Tommy who was sent sailing towards the ropes that lined the mats. "Should have thought about that before hand."

"Probably would have been a good idea," Billy said, looking at the group of three that would have to face three of his friends. Their match had ended a good twenty minutes or so and they were looking slightly irritated that the former rangers were taking this long, as well as slightly nervous. After all, it definitely seemed likely that they would be the ones taking the beating when the match ended; if it ever ended.

"Come on you guys. Someone loose already," Zack yelled up to them. Jason stopped for a second to smile at him, only to be kicked in the side by Aisha and get the wind knocked out of him. He glared and swung his own foot up and caught her in the back of her knees. She just rolled back up and smiled at him, glad he'd finally started fighting back. She'd purposely gone after Jason when she noticed that she'd hit him and he'd strike back at Adam or Rocky. Took her a while to realize the former red ranger was reluctant to hit her because she was a girl, and she'd screamed insults at him until he finally punched her, while being glared at by Rocky, who fell to Trini's hands because he wasn't paying attention to her. Female or not, they were power rangers and they could give and take as well, if not better than, the guys on their teams. She'd had to teach Tommy the same lesson when they were kids, and since she'd never really been on the receiving end of Tommy's fists, she never knew that he was always holding back. And Adam and Rocky weren't about to tell her.

"I'm getting bored!" Zack continued to heckle, while Conner laughed. Billy, Kimberly, Trent, Ethan, and Kira just shook their heads in amusement.

"Look at those moves," Kira heard a little girl on her left say. She let her attention fall from the competition on the mats to the group of children watching and imitating off the sides.

"I've seen moves like that once," one of the boys told the group. "It was on daddy's old tapes of the news from when he was studyin' to be a news person."

"Weally?" that was a small kid with a lisp. Kira had noticed him earlier because he was still young enough to be cute, but not young enough to be in diapers.

"Uh huh… those are the same moves the Power Rangers used," the older boy continued. Thankfully none of them noticed when the drink Kira had been sipping came sputtering out of her mouth as she panicked.

"Kira? You ok?" Kimberly asked her. Kira shook her head, her eyes still locked on the little kids who were now arguing over the fact that the adults who were busy beating each other black and blue were really Power Rangers. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Kira leaned forward and cupped Kimberly's ear and whispered what she'd heard the children say. Her eyes drifted to the kids.

"If he's right, then I think that one's the red ranger," a fourth kid was saying. This one was another girl, and she was pointing at Jason. The rest of the group had chimed in on this one and they gave up arguing over whether or not they were rangers, but which color was which. After all, there were six of them up there: four guys and two girls. The color drained from Kimberly's face.

"TRINI! End this NOW!" she hissed, just loud enough for her friend to hear. Trini met her eyes and Kim guided them over to the group of kids. Billy, Zack, Conner, Ethan, and Trent had also noticed and were grasping what was going on. Trini's eyes got wide and she nodded, swinging a punch at Adam. She hit him square and then kicked his legs out from under him. When he hit the ground she rested her leg on top of him, and pinned him there while she turned to face him. The former black ranger gave her a questioning look. The rules didn't allow pinning for more than a few seconds and the six of them had been careful.

"Stay down; attracting unwanted attention," she whispered before releasing him. Adam looked puzzled for a moment as Trini stood back up, moving to help Tommy and Jason end this. His eyes met Billy's who jerked his head towards the kids. Adam slightly heard the conversation that was going on. They'd already marked Jason as the red ranger, Tommy as the white, and Aisha as the yellow. They were still arguing over who was blue and black, but they were fairly certain Trini was pink. He nodded and pretended to be unable to get up, while at the same time positioning himself so that Tommy's next kick to Rocky would send the former red ranger backwards over his legs. As soon as Rocky tripped, Adam gripped Rocky's ankles with his own. The red ranger glared at him, but Adam shook his head slightly. Rocky sighed and held still, looking in the same direction as Adam until he realized what the problem was. He bit his lip, silently hoping that the others could get Aisha before someone else overheard the kids. Luckily all the adults around were too busy focusing on the match, and calling the two fallen guys quitters to notice the children.

"What's wrong with you two… get up!" Aisha hissed at them. Both men lay still, eyes on the children, unwavering, as they faked pain. Tommy and Jason had both decided to let Trini finish Aisha, still unsure of how easily Adam and Rocky had fallen. Unfortunately, they weren't smart enough to cast looks at the other seven former rangers who were desperately trying to get their attention without looking too conspicuous.

No matter how hard she tried, Trini couldn't get close enough to Aisha to get her message across. At least not without getting hit hard. Aisha was fighting back with all her strength, not wanting to go down like Adam and Rocky. Finally sighed and knew that if this was going to end before they were exposed, she'd have to do something drastic. She rushed toward Aisha, knowing that this was going to hurt. Before Trini to land her own punch, Aisha caught her in the stomach, with a puzzled look. Aisha was sure Trini had known she'd left herself wide open. As the first yellow ranger doubled over in the first really excruciating pain she'd felt in a long, long time, she summoned enough energy to whisper to Aisha. "Exposed." Aisha's faced went from confused to shock as she saw Tommy and Jason coming towards her. They were being exposed? Did Adam and Rocky know? Is that why they were down? Surely Jason and Tommy would have stopped this already if they knew? She thought as she defended herself from their kicks and punches. Ok, so they didn't, that was obvious. But how, where? She looked towards Kimberly who was on the edge of the mat, trying to get Trini to drink some water, then let her eyes dart across a field of kids toward Billy and Zack who were watching nervously, still calling out that they were bored, but with concern written all over their faces. Then she noticed the kids, and fear crossed her face as she heard one little girl shouting at the top of her lungs across the yell of the crowd, "She's the yellow ranger! I told you she was!"

Luckily, all the adults did was shush the child, as if they weren't making noise of their own. Aisha immediately dropped out of her fighting stance and surrendered. Billy and Zack finally took a breath of confusion. Jason and Tommy looked at one another confused as Adam easily pulled himself off the mats, and reached a hand down to the un injured Rocky, as the crowd was sending up cheers.

"I don't get it. You two weren't hurt?" Tommy asked as Jason dashed off to check on Trini. Kim, Kira, and Trent had pulled the downed ranger off the mats, and had her sitting against a trip drinking a plastic cup of water.

"You didn't hear it?" Adam asked him. Tommy just looked at him puzzled, and shook his head. Rocky leaned over and whispered in his ear, causing all the color to drain from Tommy's face as the four of them slipped under the ropes near Billy, Zack, Conner, and Ethan.

"No one but the kids caught on?" Tommy asked, as Billy handed him a water bottle.

"Don't think so, but if you'd gone on longer," Zack stated. Tommy just nodded and looked at the others. They all shuddered a bit, but knew they had to act normal so they didn't draw attention, especially because people were coming up to congratulate Tommy on his team's victory and commending the other three on their performance, all mentioning how exciting the match had been. About fifteen minutes into the half hour break, they group finally managed to rejoin the others near the tree, where Aisha instantly fell on Trini in a huge hug, careful not to bump her predecessor's bruises.

"I am so, so sorry. I'm such an idiot for not realizing."

"I'm alright, really, Aisha. I'm just glad it worked."

"Trini told me everything," Jason informed the others while looking at Tommy. Who nodded and went over to Justin, whispering in the young man's ear. Justin looked surprised and then nodded, leading the former white ranger off.

"Where's Dr. O going?" Ethan asked. Jason went to answer as the other's shrugged, but was cut off by Justin getting the attention of everyone around.

"We have an announcement to make," the youth stated, as Tommy stepped up beside him and the crowd quieted.

"I'm afraid that due to an injury on our team, we're going to have to forfeit and excuse ourselves for the tournament."

"What about that other girl? Couldn't she be a replacement?" some wise ass asked angrily. He was one of the guys on the other team. He didn't mind winning, he just wanted to beat the crap out the team that had sparred and won after a fifty minute match. Tommy glared at him and then shook his head.

"Afraid not. We're all rather exhausted. But it was fun. We're glad we were able to help out the kids," he stated, turned and walked off, as Justin and the other tournament staff went to give the other team their trophy and congratulate them. Luckily that drew all the attention away from the former rangers. Well maybe not all of the attention.

As Tommy reached his friends the group of children, there were six in all, three boys and three girls, came up to them, all looking extremely shy. They nudged the smallest boy forward. He clasped a photograph and a pen in his hand, and was shaking a bit, while looking back and fourth from the adults in front of him to the kids behind him who were glaring at him and whispering angrily at him for being such a baby. Tommy took pity on the boy and knelt down in front of him.

"What's your name?" he asked the child, who couldn't have been more than four or five.

"Matthew," the little boy said, looking up at Tommy from under waves of blond hair through bright blue eyes.

"Well Matthew, what can we do for you?" Tommy asked him.

"My… my sistwerss and brothwers said that you awe the Power Wangews and that I should ask fow youw autogwaphs," the child replied. Tommy looked over Matthew's shoulder and made eye contact with each of the kids. He took the photo and the pen from Matthew and handed it to Jason, then turned back to the kids.

"Well, unfortunately, you're siblings are wrong. How could we be the Power Rangers?" Tommy asked them. "We haven't got suits or special powers," he said.

"Nuh uh. We saw you fightin'," one of the girls put in.

"That was special powers, that was years of practice," Rocky said, coming to join Tommy, Aisha right behind him, while the others were busy with the photo Tommy had passed back. Jason seemed to have read his former leader's mind.

"Weally?" Matthew asked.

"Yep. And you could be that good too," Aisha told them. "You just got to keep practicing. Ok?"

"Ok," Matthew agreed.

"Lets go; they ain't the power rangers," the oldest boy, who'd been the start of the whole thing, remarked. His siblings all nodded and turned to go, except for Matthew who lingered for a moment. As the child turned to go, Tommy grabbed him by the wrist and handed him back the small photo.

"Can you read?" Jason, who'd come to stand behind Tommy asked the boy. Matthew nodded and looked down at the photo and saw a scrawled, unreadable, signature across each figure in the photograph. He turned it over and read the message on the back.

_Dear Matthew,_

_Keep practicing and don't back down. Don't let your brothers and sisters get to you. Always remember that you're a strong person. May the Power Protect You._

_Love The Power Rangers._

The boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree as he jumped forward and threw his arms around Tommy's neck.

"Now this is our little secret, alright?" Tommy asked the child. They were putting a lot of trust in the little boy.

"Secret! I pwomise."

"Good. Now go on." The boy smiled again and rushed off, tucking the photograph deep into his pocket.

"Think that was a good idea?" Rocky asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walked over to join the rest.

"Dunno; Billy?"

The former blue ranger nodded. "Kim wrote the message with the pen he gave you and I signed our names in Aquitan using the secret pen so if we do decide to tell one day, he'll be able to read it."

"Nice touch," Trini told him. "It felt good to do that for the kid."

"Yeah. Now, it'll feel even better if we can get some food?" Rocky asked them, indicating that the sun had set. Everyone just laughed, and Tommy shook his head.

"Its going to require more energy than I want to use at the moment in order to get him to stop asking, so lets just find food?" he suggested.

"We'll go to my place and we can barbeque?" Jason tossed in. The others nodded and agreed to dinner at Trini and Jason's.

As they walked to the parking lot, Kimberly kept her distance from the teenagers and Tommy once again, this time latching herself onto Trini and Aisha. Aisha was piling questions about the house on Trini since she, Rocky, and Adam hadn't been there yet. Jason, Rocky, and Adam were talking about the different techniques that they'd used in the match, with Zack critiquing both sides. Billy and Ethan were talking about the mechanics of both Billy's failed mind reading machine and the successful secret pen, and Trent and Kira were just walking quietly, Kira with her head on Trent's shoulder as she yawned a bit. Tommy thought about breaking them up, but decided against it. He really didn't want to get yelled at by Trini and Kimberly again, even if it was a way to get Kim to talk to him. He finally turned his attention toward Conner who was staring at his shoes and kicking the ground as he walked.

"Conner?"

"I didn't do it!" the teen said defensively.

"Didn't do what? I just wanted to ask you a question," Tommy looked at him puzzled. "But if you did do something."

"No really I didn't. Well, I was thinking that some of the girls at the tournament were hot, and I was thinking about ditching; but I didn't do it!"

Tommy just grinned and nodded. "Fair enough. Can I ask you that question now?"

"Sure Dr. O. What's up?"

"Did anything happen when we left you guys with Kim on the beach this morning?" he asked him. Conner looked confused for a second and then shook his head.

"Nothing really. We messed around in the water while Kimberly sat in the sun. Then we got hungry and came out for some snacks. You guys had come back by then."

"That's it?"

"Yeah; well maybe this is something. Kimberly had your cell phone when we came up. Kira asked her who'd called and she said it was Haley and that she'd call back," Conner informed him. Tommy stopped walking and just looked from Conner to the back of Kim's head. She'd spoken to Haley? Why didn't he like the sound of that? That had to be it. But what had Haley said to her? "Dr. O? You ok?"

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Go catch up to the others. I'll be right there." Conner shrugged and nodded as Tommy handed him the keys to let the other teens into the car. Then he raced off, leaving Tommy standing in the parking lot, pulling his cell phone out. He quickly dialed a number and placed the phone to his ear as he began slowly walking toward the cars.

The phone rang several times, before a familiar voice picked up.

"Hi, you've reached Haley. I'm busy right now, but when I get the chance, I'll call you back," the voicemail played, followed by a beep.

"Haley; Its Tommy. Call me back as soon as you get this. I mean it! We need to talk." He sighed and closed his phone, looking down at it. "Damn it," he whispered, noticing the battery was nearly dead. He shoved it in his pocket, knowing he couldn't do anything until he found out what Haley had said to Kim to make her so upset. He had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to like it when he found out.

* * *

There we go. All done and nice for my loyal readers. It's a fun chapter. Not my absolute favorite, but they can't all be.

Anyway, classes have just restarted for the semester, and I have a lot of reading this semester, but I will do my best to update regularly once again. I really do apologize for not doing so sooner. I hate having long breaks between chapters because then I have to go back and re-read to make sure I don't make any major continuity errors… which if I do, please alert me. Hope you all enjoyed,

Fateless Wanderer

Oh, and I'm slightly curious to know what's been your favorite part so far: From any chapter; Even the very beginning, so in your reviews, if you want, please tell me what you've liked the best.


	17. Stranded And Falling Apart

YAY for free time to update. This next chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but its actually one of my favorite. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Tommy climbed into the front seat of his jeep and turned around to take a head count. Conner was sitting shot gun for the first time since they'd gotten to Angel Grove, and Kira was nestled up against Trent, who sat between her and Ethan in the back seat.

"Everyone set?" he asked the four of them. As soon as they nodded, he backed out of the spot to follow Jason, Zack, and Rocky's cars back to Jason and Trini's place.

They rode in complete silence, Tommy because he was thinking about how to fix things with Kimberly and the teens because, well, Kira was sleeping, and the guys sensed some type of uneasiness around their mentor and had basically decided it would be a bad idea to interrupt his thoughts. Luckily it wasn't a long drive, and they soon found themselves seated on the grass in the back yard, Alpha lounging beside them, while Rocky was playing a game of fetch with Zordon.

"I'm not sure who's enjoying the game more; Rocky or Zordon," Aisha laughed as she helped Trini carry some of the sides out of the kitchen onto the patio.

"I think its Rocky," Adam responded looking up from the card game he was playing with Tommy and Billy.

"Aww, leave the poor guy alone," Trini put in. "He's entertaining Zordon, which is more than I can say for his daddy."

"Yeah, well, his daddy is busy making dinner to feed all of his mommy's guests," Jason retorted from where he and Zack stood at the grill.

"They're your guests too," Trini responded.

"But speaking of Mommies and Daddies, when should I expect to be called Aunt Kimmie?" Kim had followed Trini and Aisha out of the kitchen, carrying a set of paper plates and cups.

"Not any time soon," Jason told her immediately. Trini hit him upside the head.

"Aww, but it'd be so nice to hear the pitter patter of little feet," Tommy egged them on. Jason just rolled his eyes and snorted, and Trini hit him again.

"It would be nice to have kids, but I think since we got married so quickly, we should wait to have children," Trini explained.

"Ahh, but you've known each other for so long, so in a way, you've been married for years," Tommy argued, a large smile on his face as he got bored of the card game and dropped out, leaving the game to Adam and Billy. He leaned forward on his knees and took a sip of the drink Jason had passed out when they first got there.

"Tell you what Bro," Jason said, turning around. "I'll make you Uncle Tommy, when you make me Uncle Jason with Kimmie."

Tommy choked on his drink as Kim's face went bright red. Adam had to pat Tommy on the back to get the poor man to stop coughing.

"No really, that's ok," Kimberly remarked, dashing into the house, looking like she was about to cry.

"Now what did you have to go and do that for?" Aisha snapped at Tommy who looked like he was going to die if he didn't get some air into his lungs.

"Me? What the hell did I do? Jason made the comment!"

"But you didn't have to act like it would be the most horrible thing in the world," Zack told him. "I seem to recall a time when that thought might not have been so far away."

"Zack, we were teenagers. The thought of kids was always far away."

"Oh right, it was the thought of sex that was always near by," Billy put in and Tommy sighed. This was getting ridiculous.

"Lets get one thing straight here, ok," Tommy began, speaking slowly and methodically, as if he was speaking to children. "I am not the bad guy. I did not write that letter. I didn't break her heart and pretend that we'd never been together. I am not the one who has stopped talking to the other. And I am not the one who goes stomping off like some wounded animal every time I get embarrassed. If I did you wouldn't see me at all this vacation. So in conclusion, all of you just back off!" With those words he stormed into the house and then out the front door, making sure to slam it shut as he went. Everyone turned to Jason, hoping that Jason could explain what had happened.

"Just let him cool down. We'll deal with it later. Trini, Aisha?"

"We're on it," Trini replied as she and Aisha headed into the house to find Kimberly. It didn't take them long to find the girl sobbing in the family room where Trini and Jason had photos of the groups up all over the walls. Kimberly was sitting on the couch, an old photo album on her lap.

"Oh Kim," Aisha said, going over and embracing the woman, as Trini slid the album away from her and sat beside her. "Its not as bad as all that."

"Yes it is," Kimberly responded.

"No its not," Trini told her. "You've got to stop this. Tommy's slightly right. We can't keep placing the blame on him."

"I never said it was his fault," Kim said looking up and whipping her eyes.

"Then why all this? Why can't you two seem to get along?"

Kimberly just looked at Aisha as if she'd grown another head. "Get Along? Ha! Are you kidding me?"

"What are you talking about?" Trini asked her hysterical best friend.

"I'm talking about forgiveness. I'm talking about understanding. I'm talking about not telling complete strangers about our past. I'm talking about not hating one another. I don't hate him. I've never told anyone on the outside what we've been through. I've kept our secrets. And yet there's someone out there who knows all about my relationship with Tommy, including how it ended. And that very same person, who I've never met, apparently has more of a right to be his friend than I do. I GIVE UP! ALRIGHT! Its over. Officially over. I just want to get through this next week and a half without anymore awkwardness, and go back home and never look back. I love you guys, but I can't take being around him anymore."

With that, she stood up and marched herself clear out of the room, and out of the house. So in a matter of five minutes, not only had they not succeeded in bringing their friends back together, but something had happened that pushed them so far apart that neither seemed to want to be around the other any longer.

"Did you understand what she was talking about?" Aisha said, attempting to break the silence. Trini shook her head no and went to the front door. Both Tommy and Kim's cars were there, but neither one was in sight.

"At least it won't be hard to find them," Trini remarked, going out into the back yard, determination on her face. Kimberly might have been ready to give up, but she wasn't. In fact, she was ready to pull out the big guns. "Jason, Rocky, I need you to come with me."

"What? Why? Where's Kim?" Jason asked, handing the grill over to Zack.

"She stormed out after going into a rant about… well, I don't really know what it was about, but I think Tommy does."

"So what are we doing?" Rocky asked.

"We're going hunting. I want you two to get in the cars and find them with me. I'll take ours, Rocky, you and Jason, you take yours. Call me if you find him and meet me at the edge of the desert." Trini ordered, eyes flashing in anger as she turned and went back into the house to grab her cell phone and her keys.

"Desert?" Adam whispered to Billy who shrugged.

"I sense that Trini is in a state of turmoil," he stated, slipping slightly back to more intellectual speech due to Trini's surprising outburst.

"And what does that mean?" Zack asked. It wasn't the words that confused him. Rather, he wanted to know what Trini being distressed would do to the rest of the group.

"It means that nothing beneficial will happen to us, at least until Tommy and Kimberly are once again in a harmonious relationship."

"We're so doomed!"

"Oh quit being so dramatic," Aisha laughed at the three of them. "You three are worse than women, you know that?"

"We know, but its just so much fun," Zack laughed.

"Please tell me we're not going to act like them when we get old," Conner whispered a little too loudly to Kira who grinned.

"OLD? Who do you think you're calling old?" Aisha said, approaching Conner, who dove behind Kira.

"Conner, it was nice knowing you," Billy laughed.

"A word of advice, RUN." Adam informed him.

"No, stay. I want to see Aisha beat someone up," Zack added. Ethan, Trent, and Kira just gave their teammate sympathetic looks, while Kira moved out from between Aisha and her prey. Conner made some sound that sounded sort of like he was crying for his mommy. Nothing worse, than an angry yellow ranger, except maybe two angry former yellow rangers; which was the only thing that kept Conner from trying to re-position himself behind Kira again. Instead he sort of stumbled tripped to his feet, and did exactly what Adam told him to do. He ran, for about five minutes, which was about how long it too Adam, Zack, and Billy to get bored with watching Aisha try and kill him.

"Hey, Sha, leave the kid alone," Adam called out to her. Aisha stopped running and turned to look at him.

"Why?"

"How are things looking for Saturday?" Billy put in. Aisha's look of I'm going to kill the teenage former red ranger and then feed him to Goldar changed to a bright, excited, happy smile, as she bounced back up onto the porch like a happy little child who'd been told she was going to Disney world for the first time.

"Perfectly. Rocky talked to the hotel guys, and reserved the place, and Kimberly, Kira, and I got almost everything else taken care of. Just a few loose ends to be tied up on Friday."

"Who's taking care of that?" Zack asked, bringing over whatever food he and Jason had been able to make before Tommy and Kim had gone insane.

"Oh, um… well, that was supposed to be Kim and Tommy, but well,"

"Maybe you'd better have a backup," Billy said, shaking his head. Aisha bit her lip and nodded. Judging from what Kim had said Trini's plan would have to be really good if she was going to succeed.

* * *

It only took Trini fifteen minutes to find Kimberly. She hadn't thought it would be difficult, as Kimberly was wearing sandals and refused to go off the side walks. Thus, all Trini had to do was drive straight up beside her, and slow down to about five miles an hour, and roll down her window.

"Trini, I'm saying this with the utmost tenderness. Go Away."

"Get in the car Kim."

"What part of go away didn't you understand," the former pink ranger said, stopping and glaring at her fellow ranger. Trini kept her face even. She'd gotten Kim to stop walking, but she hadn't gotten her into the car.

"All of it. Now get in the car."

"And if I don't?"

"Oh, you will." Trini said confidently, staring her best friend down. She knew Kimberly. Either she would get annoyed with Trini following her, or her feet would begin to hurt so badly that she would have no choice, or, and her bet was on the last one, Kimberly would realize the first two and would get in the car immediately just to avoid Trini being annoying and to spare herself pain.

Kim just glared at her, didn't say anything, but circled around the front of the SUV and climbed in beside Trini, who turned smugly back to the road.

"Don't even say it," Kim muttered, folding her arms over her shoulder. She hated loosing, most off all to Trini's psychology.

"Say what?" Trini said, as she pulled out her phone and dialed Rocky's number. "Hey; you find him yet? Ok, keep trying. Oh, yeah, I got her. Ok, see you there." Kimberly just stared at her friend, and shoved herself further into the seat angrily. She didn't like the sound of what Trini was planning.

An hour later, Trini was standing outside the car, while Kim was still pouting inside, as Rocky and Jason drove up with a very angry, and roughed up, looking Tommy in the back seat. His hands were tied behind his back, and an old bandana was tied into his mouth. Trini shot her two minions a questioning look.

"He kept dodging through the park, and through people's yards. Jason finally had to jump out of the car and wrestle him to the ground. People stared," Rocky informed her. Trini just gave Tommy an evil smile, as it slowly sunk into him that Trini was behind his strange and painful kidnapping.

"Might as well take your car since he's settled. Jason, would you mind getting Kim for me?"

"You know, you're really scary when you're angry," Rocky muttered, climbing back into the driver's seat, as Trini walked over to the passenger's side.

Kimberly glared at Jason as he opened her door, and held his hand out gallantly for her. She ignored it and stepped out on her own. Jason smirked, and grabbed her shoulders, guiding her over to Rocky's Jeep. When she saw Tommy she looked at her two friends, hoping to escape having to sit beside him, but Trini and Jason were both staring at her without looks of being willing to back down. She sighed and pulled herself into the seat beside the tied and gagged former multi-colored ranger, whom she ignored. Tommy sighed. There went his last hope for being able to talk again, he thought as Trini climbed up beside Rocky. "We'll be right back," She told Jason, who nodded, as Rocky drove off, in the direction Trini pointed him in.

Twenty minutes of listening to Rocky and Trini discuss their relationships with their significant others was beginning to cause wear and tear on Tommy and Kimberly's nerves. Not that Tommy could do anything about it. And Kimberly was just plain too intent on the silent treatment to even ask where they were going. Twenty minutes of being hot and sweaty, and annoyed, and having dirty old clothes chafing against your wrists was enough to make any man go crazy, and it was certainly more than enough time to make Tommy lean down and kiss the ground as soon as they let him out of the car, and removed his binds.

"Now that you all have had your fun of driving us around all night, I'd like to go back to the hotel," he stated bluntly, after stretching his legs for several minutes. He attempted to get back into the jeep, where Rocky remained in the driver's seat, only to be yanked off by a very angry Trini.

"Don't even think about it, Dr. Oliver. I've had it up to here," she told them, pointing at her forehead, "with the both of you. Rocky and I are going back to the party. You two are staying here until either you find your way back or you make up. Whichever comes first?"

Simple, to the point, and angrily stated. With that she climbed back into the jeep, and Rocky had the sense to speed away, leaving two very stunned former rangers standing in the middle of the desert, watching until the car was completely out of sight.

Kimberly sighed, pulled off her sandals, and began marching away in the opposite direction, startling Tommy out of his stupor. He watched her go for a second, then shrugged, stuck his hands into his pockets and began to follow, muttering to himself so she couldn't hear him over the wind that was picking up.

"Ok, Tommy. This isn't so incredibly terrible. You've got time to clear your head. Time to get your thoughts together; maybe figure out how to tell Kimberly you're sorry for whatever Haley said to her; possibly determine how to tell Haley to back off without attempting suicide. Maybe find a way to get your pushy friends to back off, and possibly find a way to tie Jason and Rocky to the back of his jeep and drive all over town with them."

They were walking for maybe ten minutes in complete silence when the first raindrop hit Tommy's nose. He looked up towards the sky and noticed it was darkening, and they were no where near where ever it was they were going.

"Uh, Kim, I think we're going the wrong way," he said tentatively. Kimberly didn't even miss a beat in her step, nor did she look back.

"Maybe you're going the wrong way. I never told you to follow me."

"Well, maybe I thought you shouldn't be alone out here."

"So nice of you to care," she retorted sarcastically as she tripped over a rock. "Shit! Now you've gone and made me break my shoe." She yanked off her sandals and began walking again. "This is your entire fault, you know."

Tommy frowned, and ran to catch up to her. "My fault? How the hell is it my fault? You're the one who's been touchy all day."

"You just don't get it, do you," she said, picking up speed again, as thunder echoed over head. "Just fucking great."

"No Kim, I don't get it. Why don't you try explaining it to me?"

"Just leave me alone, will you." She yelled, over another drum of thunder. It was almost as if with those words, she'd caused the sky above them to open up, and for rain to plummet down on them, soaking them both to the bone. She pushed wet hair out of her face as she marched on, acutely aware of Tommy's footsteps quickly approaching her. He placed himself at her side, but didn't say anything; yet she positively sure she was more annoyed at his presence than she was at the rain, since the rain was doing an excellent job of hiding the tears that were cascading down her face.

* * *

"Are you sure it was such a good idea to leave them out there?" Jason asked Trini when they pulled into their driveway just ahead of Rocky, and thunder boomed above. The rain had been threatening to start since about half way home, and it looked like it was about to start.

"They left us no choice," Trini retorted coldly. She wasn't so sure her plan would succeed and that made her even more irritated than she was when she'd first abandoned them in the desert. She pushed her way into the house, only to find that the others had finished eating, leaving covered food for them on the dining table.

"Hey, where's Dr. O and Kimberly?" Trent asked, from his seat on the floor beside Kira. They and their two teammates were flipping through the pages of the old family album Kimberly had been holding earlier in the family room.

"Trini abandoned them out in the desert," Rocky commented, making himself a plate and plopping down between his best friend and his fiancé.

"What?" Aisha asked, surprised, glancing outside to where the rain had finally cut through the clouds and was in the process of drenching everything outside. Alpha and Zordon were staring out the window looking mournful that their play time had been cut short. Jason took a seat on an arm chair near them, and both dogs immediately ran over and placed their heads in his lap. "Trini its pouring out."

"Serves them right," the former yellow ranger responded vindictively. She was very plainly too angry to care at the moment. Maybe she'd be more concerned in the morning. Maybe. "What are you four looking at?" she asked the teens, while grabbing a water for herself, and a beer from the fridge for her husband, before seating herself on the armrest of his chair, and leaning against him.

"Photo album that Aisha found. Are these really all photographs of you guys as kids?" Ethan asked, holding the album up for her inspection. Trini leaned forward to see the pictures. She'd put the album together about two years before, and it sort of had an order. She took the book away from the kids and nodded, turning it back to the beginning and seating herself on the floor between them.

"Yeah. The first few pages are of the five of us when we were in elementary school. This one is from Jason's eighth birthday," she said pointing at one picture. Jason, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Adam, and Rocky all leaned in around so they could get a better look at the photos that Trini was pointing out.

She pushed her hair out of her face, and began turning the pages. She pointed out sever pictures of Zack clowning around, Billy with tons of science fair medals. There were pictures of Trini winning spelling bees and debates. Jason wearing his black belt and holding up all his others, while standing beside trophies, and Kimberly on the balance beam or the uneven parallel bars. As she turned each page, the people in the photos got older, until Trini hesitated. "These next are some of my favorites," she said, flipping over to the next page. On the page were two photos. One was an enlarged photo of Jason, for the first time wearing predominantly red, sitting on an out cropping of rock, and staring off into the sunset behind him. The other was one of Kimberly in a similar position, wearing mostly pink. Zack and Billy were on the adjacent page, with the same serious expressions, Zack holding a gold coin, mostly hidden by his fingers. Trini turned the page, to display one of herself, and then one of the five of them, leaning on one another, all holding hands. "This was right after we got our powers. Just behind that outcropping is the command center," she told them. Jason, Billy, and Zack smiled at the pictures and squeezed Trini's shoulder, as she turned to the next few pages. These were photos of the group in their first few years of high school. The teens noticed that at some point, the silver-ish devises they had come to find out were the first team's old communicators made an appearance. The photos were followed by an enlarged photo of Tommy, dressed in mostly green, with his hair to his shoulders, sitting on the same outcropping of rocks, staring off into the distance, in front of a back drop of clouds.

"When did you take that?" Zack asked, looking at the other picture on the page. It was at the same place, but this time, a smiling Trini stood beside Tommy trying to get him to smile.

"Right after Tommy joined the team. He was still feeling really guilty, so I took him up to the rock and made him take these. Then I showed him the ones of all of us. I think that's when he finally really began to join the group."

The pictures continued, until Trini got to another section of the album. She flipped the page, and the photos changed from the group of them to photos of Tommy and Kimberly. Their positions ranged from playful, to seductive (well, Kimberly posing seductively, and Tommy just looking uncomfortable), to romantic. There were a lot of them holding hands. Some of them sitting on the grass in the park. Some were in silhouette, others in bright light. In some they were looking at the camera, and in others they were looking at each other. There were even several of the couple kissing. In every picture, there love for one another was obvious in their eyes. Trini ran her fingers over some of the photographs.

"Wow," Conner whispered softly. "He really was in love with her, wasn't he?" he asked the adults. The teens stared at the photos, for the first time, understanding why their mentor was so uncomfortable around Kimberly. It couldn't have been remotely easy for Tommy to accept that they weren't a couple any more; not after the time they'd spent together. And the teens had just seen the tiny portion of their relationship Trini had managed to catch on film. Jason nodded.

"They were both very much in love," he responded. Trini began turning the pages again. They went back to group photos, mostly with Tommy in white. There were a few photos that had pictures of Aisha, Rocky, and Adam in them. Most of the photos showed Tommy and Kimberly hanging on one another, and Rocky standing somewhere close by Aisha. There was even one of him kissing her on the cheek while she poured a smoothie over his head. The pictures shifted to landscapes, as they transitioned over to the peace conference. There were pictures of Trini's dorm, and pictures of Jason and Zack's room. Trini went to turn the page, but Jason stopped her. "We can skip the next few, right, baby?" he asked, with a pleading look.

"Jason Scott, I love the next photo's," his wife replied, pushing his hand away and turning the page to reveal photos of Jason's dorm again, but this time, he and Trini were on the bed, looking into one another's eyes. There was one where they were making out on his bed, with Zack hanging over the railing of the bunk beds making gagging faces. There were photos of Trini attempting to kill Zack while Jason held her back, where Zack was wearing a long black wig and making out with a bright red pillow. Some of the photos were similar to the ones of Tommy and Kimberly, and some were way more scandalous. There was a picture of Jason sleeping, with Trini curled up against his side, and it was evident both were naked, even though they were completely covered.

"I don't even want to know how you got that one," Adam told them.

"Trini nearly killed Zack when the flash woke her up. She finally let him off the hook when she saw how well the photo came out," Jason laughed, kissing the top of his wife's head. Trini just smiled, and Zack shuddered.

The last photos showed Jason in a black suit and Trini in a short white dress holding a bouquet of red and yellow roses. Jason had two roses pinned to his collar, and Zack, who stood off to his side wore a blue suit with the same two roses. There were photos of them exchanging vows, photos of them slipping rings onto one another's fingers, photo's of them sharing their first kiss as husband and wife, and photo's of the dinner Zack treated them too right after.

"Aww, Trini, you looked beautiful," Aisha told her friend and Kira nodded enthusiastically, yawning as thunder once again rattled the house.

"So what exactly are we doing until Dr. O comes back?" Ethan asked the other adults.

"Ethan, I wouldn't hold my breath that they're back anytime soon," Billy told him. "Come on, we'll take you guys back to the hotel," Adam told them. "You guys coming with us, or are you staying here?" he asked Trini and Jason.

"Staying here. Looking at those photos made me want to cuddle with my husband," Trini replied, getting up off the floor and putting the photo album in a place where it could be more readily viewed. The others nodded.

"Ok, well, Adam, why don't you take Tommy's keys and drive the teens back to the hotel, and Billy can ride with Zack," Aisha suggested. Adam and Zack nodded, following Rocky out of the house, with the teenage former rangers trailing behind them. Aisha turned back to Trini as Jason grabbed a rain coat in order to let the dogs out into the back to use the bathroom one last time before bed. "Call me when they come back?" she asked her fellow yellow. Trini immediately nodded. "I hope this works."

"Me too."

* * *

Tommy and Kimberly kept going, Kim slipping every so often, and Tommy grabbing her to keep her from falling. She wanted to yank away from him each time, but knew that if she did, she's probably end up falling even more than she already was. And the rain, which wasn't showing any signs of lessening up, wasn't helping matters.

She silently cursed everything, from Tommy's presence, the rain, Trini, Jason, Rocky, everyone else, Haley. She was just sick and tired of everything, and if Trini thought that stranding them alone out in the desert was going to make them fall back in love, than Trini was insane. Nothing short of electro-shock therapy would erase what had happened in her past. She glanced up at the sky, sending a silent prayer that she wouldn't get struck by lightning, and then slipped on another loose rock, as Tommy grabbed her elbow to steady her. She pulled away as soon as she was on her feet again.

"Tommy, just stop it alright. I'm not a two year old," she snapped at him. She hadn't meant to. She hadn't meant to say anything at all to him, not for the rest of the time they were out there. She lunged away, and scrambled to the top of the rock ridge they were on, in hopes of climbing over, and disappear on the other side, and finally loosing Tommy. Unfortunately, she was too stunned when she reached the top to keep moving. "I think you were right when you said we were going the wrong way," she called back, in just slightly over a whisper.

"What do you mean?" he asked, coming up beside her, and whistling at the sight he saw. "Well, that could do it," he told her. "Come on, we can seek shelter inside," He began to start down the hill, and only looked back when he realized Kimberly was not behind him. "Are you going to stand out here in the rain? Or are you going to come inside?"

"Me? Go in there? Are you kidding? Who knows what could be in there?"

"Kim, you knew what was in there," Tommy argued, gesturing to the remains of a demolished Command Center. It was their second home, and right now, the power chamber that lay beneath would be their best bet for shelter from the furious storm that was still attacking with tremendous force.

"I can't," she mumbled. "I can't go in there," she said, whirling around and attempting to leave. Tommy lunged toward her and grabbed her wrist.

"Kim, we're going to catch pneumonia if we stay out here. Why can't you go in there?"

"Too many memories," she mumbled. "But I guess you're right." She sighed and allowed him to lead her down the hill. At least maybe inside, she could get warm, and away from Tommy.

The two practically ran towards their sanctuary, fleeing from the lightning that was dancing in the sky behind them. Tommy lead Kimberly through a maze of rumble that looked to the most common place person as a bunch of old rocks. He slipped behind one very large boulder, and searched for the electronic key pad. Unable to find it, he slipped his fingers into a small slit in the rock, and used manual force to pry them apart, revealing a dark tunnel. "After you," he told Kimberly, a small smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes, and pushed past him into the depths, ignoring the slight static shock she got as she passed through the entrance way. Tommy followed in after her, and brushed up against the sharp edge of the door, causing him to get a slight pinch and stumble backwards, bumping into Kimberly in the darkness.

"Watch where you're going," she snapped at him, pulling out her key chain, which luckily had one of those tiny flashlights on it. Tommy just rolled his eyes, and pushed the slit in the rock closed once more, before following her down the tunnel. After several minutes of walking, he told her to turn right. She glared at him for a moment, but did as he said, not wanting to meet anything unpleasant in the quiet depths of the Power Chamber.

"Its just up ahead," Tommy said from behind her, pointing at the thin sliver of light that was glowing steadily up ahead of them. Kimberly sighed, as she listened to their footsteps and the sound of the rain pelting the ground above them. She silently prayed that their roof would hold; not trusting how old and unused the place was. When they reached the door, she let Tommy in front of her so he could pull the doors open and step through. These were a bit harder to open, as they were thicker and had more gears in them. Once again, they both felt a bit of static shock as they walked through the entrance into the dimly lit center of the Power Chamber. "Back up power must be running," he told her, turning to one of the counsels and pressing a few of the keys. Some where missing their coverings. As the lights came on, the two former rangers saw an area that would have once been the base of operations for the Zeo and Turbo ranger teams, at one point. Now it was evident that battles had occurred here. Wires were loose everywhere, ruble littered the floor, counsels were broken. The place where Zordon's head had once floated was cracked. Kimberly ran her hand over one of the damaged units, while Tommy walked to the far end of the room and opened an emergency cabinet. He pulled out two sets of large sweats, one pink, the other red. He tossed the pink ones and a blanket at Kimberly, and then proceeded to pull two water bottles out of the cabinet, first checking that they hadn't been tampered with.

"Where did…" Kimberly began, looking at the clothing, but Tommy cut her off.

"After Goldar and Rito bombed the Command Center, we decided it would be useful to have some supplies in case of an emergency." He closed the cabinet and began pulling his drenched shirt off. He looked at Kimberly who was just standing there. "They've never been worn," he stated simply, raising an eyebrow at her hesitation.

"I know that," she growled. "You don't think I'm going to change in front of you, do you?" she asked him. Tommy rolled his eyes and turned his back to her.

"There. I won't watch," he stated simply, shrugging the sweat shirt on, and then struggling to pull his wet pants off. Kimberly sighed, and watched him for a moment. Part of her wanted to smack him silly, while the other part wanted to run over and help him with his pants. She squashed that part down and began to change into the pink jump suit, hoping that the rain would stop soon.

* * *

Short chapter, I know. But its another bridge. It's a more emotional chapter, and its going to only get worse now that Tommy and Kimberly are alone. And just what is the whole group planning for Saturday? Anyway, hope you enjoyed.

Fateless Wanderer.


	18. Power Ranger Hunting

Short Bridge chapter, but hey it's a chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

"Is he back yet?"

"No," Trent muttered through the darkness of the room he shared with Conner and Ethan at the hotel. Kira had been by every hour on the hour to ask the exact same question, which meant that in the few hours since they'd gotten back, no one had gotten any sleep, and it was approaching midnight. "Wouldn't you know if they were? I mean Kimberly would have come back."

Kira rolled her eyes and stepped through the door which they'd left cracked open for her. She sat down on his bed. "He could come back without her."

"I highly doubt Dr. O is going to leave her out in the desert by herself. Doesn't matter that she's an ex-ranger, or an ex-girlfriend," Trent said, cutting her off, and basically reading her mind. He sat up beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her head lightly. "What can I do to make you stop worrying?"

"We could go look for them," she suggested shyly. Trent sighed, knowing that she'd been leading up to that all night. He nodded and flipped on the light. "You two coming?" Kira asked Conner and Ethan who were laying in their own beds listening to the conversation.

"Yeah," Ethan muttered.

"I can't say I don't mind the whole lack of supervision thing, but I have to admit, I'm worried," Conner added, stating what was on each of their minds. Kira nodded and stepped out of the room to let the guys change. Ten minutes later they were walking through the lobby of the hotel and out the doors onto the streets.

"Anyone have any clue how we get to the desert from here?" Conner asked after about twenty minutes of walking as they found themselves standing in an unknown city.

"No, let me check my GPS," Ethan said sarcastically. "Oh that's right, I must have left it in my other pants."

"Well, that was incredibly pointless," Trent remarked.

"Maybe not completely," Kira told him, pointing at a very familiar looking golf cart. Trent stared at her in confusions, while Ethan began smiling, and Conner rushed up to the door of the house the golf cart was parked in front of.

Minutes later a very disgruntled Bulk appeared at the door, muttering about people ringing door bells in the middle of the night. However, surprisingly, his face turned from angry to excited when he saw Conner standing on his doorstep.

"Conner? What are you doing here?"

"I need a favor," the teen replied, running his hand through his hair nervously. This was either going to work, or blow up in his face, right then and there.

"Anything. After all, everything for Saturday is looking great," Bulk replied, still trying to wake up. His face suck for a moment. "Everything is alright for Saturday, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, yeah," Conner laughed, glancing over his shoulders at Kira and Trent who were giving their leader odd looks. "Best not talk about that around them," Conner whispered to the older man. "Anyway, listen, my friends and I need directions to the desert, and well, could we borrow the golf cart?"

"Why not ask Tommy for directions?"

"Didn't want to wake him," Ethan answered from a few feet off. Bulk gave him a wave, and Ethan gave a little nod of acknowledgement that he recognized him.

"Ok then," Bulk answered, not completely admitting that he knew what they meant about not wanting to alert authority. Albeit, the teen's statement had been a complete lie. "But you'll never make it to the desert in that thing," he added, putting at the golf cart. Take my car, it's around back." The four teens just sort of stared at the man. Finally Trent worked up the courage to speak.

"You're going to lend Conner your car?"

"Yes?"

"But it's Conner!" Trent argued. Kira snorted a laugh as she tried to get Trent to wrap his mind around the idea. Ethan was still smiling, and Conner had a look of "Why do I call these people my friends," on his face.

"Thank Bulk. We'll get it back as soon as we can," he said, accepting the car keys from the man.

"Oh, take your time. I never drive it. The cart's easier." Bulk answered and proceeded to give the teens directions to the outskirts of the desert. "Doing ranger research?" Bulk asked suddenly as the four began to walk away. All four turned back nervously.

"Uh, yeah," Conner replied slowly, knowing he was getting glares from Kira and Trent. "But keep it low." Bulk nodded and re-entered his house. Conner sighed, glad the man hadn't pressed him for answers.

"I wonder how he came to that conclusion," Ethan said, breaking the silence. Kira rolled her eyes and went stalking off towards the small black car that looked like it had been around since the seventies. Trent followed her, after one more questioning look towards his friends, and Conner sighed once again in exasperation. Ethan followed last. "No really, I wonder how he came up with it," the former blue ranger said again, climbing into the passenger seat beside Conner.

* * *

Tommy lay on his back staring up at the ceiling on one of the beds in the medical bay, listening as the rain finally stopped and the wind of the desert evening began to pick up. He couldn't sleep, and his watch was already reading midnight.

"Kimberly, please come in here," he called into the main area.

"I'm fine out here," came the cold reply. Tommy groaned, running his hand over his face and sat up. He'd been fighting with her to come into the medical bay and get some sleep, but she flatly refused. He could hear her tinkering in the light with her shoe, possibly trying to fix the broken strap. He slid off the bed and out into the room, leaning against the doorway.

"You're not going to fix that, you know," he told her, folding his arms across his chest. She didn't even turn to look at him. She just continued to sit cross legged on the floor, with her back to him, pointlessly trying to piece the sandal back together. "Give it to me," he offered coming closer.

"I can do it. Besides, don't you need your beauty rest."

Tommy rolled his eyes in response, circled around in front of her and sat down across from her, staring at her. Kim tried to ignore him, but she could feel his eyes focusing on her down cast ones. She finally looked up, sighed and handed him the shoe, which he took, and stood back up, going over to one of the cabinets.

"All we need is a little of Billy's super glue," he said, rummaging through cabinets. Kimberly just watched him, her eyes intent on his every movement, as he finally found what he was looking for and reattached the sandal's strap. When he turned back to her, Kimberly was still seated, cross legged, leaning back on her hands, staring at him. He stared back for a few seconds then tossed the shoe at her, which she examined, pulling on the strap. Satisfied that it wasn't going to break, she laid it beside her old one, still looking at Tommy. "Why do you hate me?" he asked her, although he already knew her current feelings had something to do with Haley. Kimberly watched him for a few seconds, then looked away.

"I don't like you in red," was her response. Tommy sighed.

"That wasn't the question," he stated, then frowned. "Why don't you like me in red?"

"You were red when you were with Kat. I've always hated you in red." Tommy blinked at her response.

"You hate me in red because I was a red ranger when I dated Kat? You were jealous after you broke up with me?"

"I didn't say it was a fair reason," she argued back. Tommy shook his head and resumed his seat beside her, taking her head in his hands and making her look at him. He felt her breath on his hands. She brought one of her hands up against his, gripping her wrist. "I hate you," she mumbled, trying to keep her tears out of her eyes.

"Hate is ok," he told her, with a small smile. "Mind telling me why?"

"Because you…"

"Because I what? What did I do?"

"You told her, ok," Kimberly retorted, pulling away from his touch. "You told someone every horrible, ugly detail. Not only does she know that I was a ranger with you, but she knows about a relationship that ended in a way I never wanted it to. There's a woman out there who knows that I pulled your heart out through your throat and chucked onto a bed of nails, and there's absolutely nothing I can do because every word of what she knows is true. But I hate it that she knows. I hate it that she judges me without meeting me. And most of all, I hate you because you told her. You told this woman the two deepest secrets of my heart, and now she has weapons to use against me, and she's right, ok. That's why I hate you!" she was practically yelling at him by the time she finished her rant. Tommy stared at her.

"Kimberly?"

"What!"

"Haley had no right to say whatever it was she said to you, and I'm going to make sure she knows it."

Kimberly stared at him. Of all the reactions she expected to get, she never thought Tommy would tell her that his best girl friend was wrong. She never expected him to look mad enough to kill upon hearing why she was so upset. She never expected him to support her.

"I never should have told her, but well, it just came out. I was moving into a new place and I was going through some of the papers I kept in my desk when I came across the letter. I got so upset that I went out and got drunk, trying to forget you. Then I wondered over to Haley's and drunkenly demanded that she sleep with me. Well, that was mistake number one, you don't demand Haley do anything, let alone have sex with you; she doesn't care if you're completely intoxicated or not. Anyway, after she slapped me upside the head, I began to cry like crazy. I've only cried one other time like that, and that was the night after I'd gotten your letter. I told her everything that day. Everything, from the day we met, to my time as an evil ranger, to the time you and Jason tried to kill us. And all she did was hold me and let me cry. She never brought anything up. A few days later I remembered what I'd told her and went to see her again. She swore that she'd never tell a soul about the power rangers and she hasn't. I'd almost thought she'd forgotten all about you. I'm sorry."

Kimberly stared at him. She could tell that was something he'd never told anyone before. He knew that not even Jason would have known. So it was the three of them. Tommy, Haley, and now Kimberly, who knew one of the weakest moment's in Tommy's life. He didn't have to tell her, but he did. He wanted her to know, because he really was sorry he'd ever told. He did respect their relationship.

"Tommy, I-"

"You have every right to be angry with me."

"I was angry. But I'm not now. I can't hate you Tommy, because – because I think I lo-"

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" The alarms in the power changer began screaming, as the computerized voice of Alpha surrounded the two former rangers who immediately jumped to their feet. Kimberly felt a wave of anger spread through her as the voice cut her off. She sighed. Just when things might have gotten better, the one thing that always interrupted her life, interrupted her life once again.

"Damn it!" Tommy hissed, going towards the consuls. He tapped several buttons, trying to get the surveillance screens working. All he got was static. "Shit. Alright, our only choice is to find the intruders ourselves."

Kimberly nodded and slipped her shoes back on as Tommy went to the mechanical doors and tried to open them. They wouldn't budge. "Kim?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you feel anything when we first came in here?" Tommy asked her.

"Uh… there were some static shocks when we went through the doors, why?"

"Billy, god damn it!" Tommy hissed, angrily. Kimberly frowned at him.

"What's wrong? Are- are we stuck here?" Tommy nodded.

"It's a safety device Billy installed for when we enter without teleporting. You know, when power's down. Anyway, those shocks were the power chamber's way of identifying who entered the hallway, and the power chamber. Billy programmed it to allow all the zeo rangers, and anyone who came before to be able to enter. He usually keeps it off. Anyway, it must have been activated at some point, and well, it recognized us as rangers and when it recognized intruders…"

"It sealed us in for our own safety because it thinks our power's down?" Kimberly finished for him. Tommy sighed and nodded. "How long?"

"At least until I can figure out how to turn it off."

"Don't bother, lets just get some sleep," Kimberly told him. "We'll figure it out in the morning." Tommy nodded and followed her into the medical bay, shutting out the lights in the main section.

"The intruder's probably some lizard or something." Tommy mumbled.

* * *

Kira walked through the darkness, with Trent at her side. They'd decided that their best bet to find Tommy and Kimberly would be to split up. They'd agreed to meet back at the car in two hours. She and Trent had gone to the right, Conner had gone to the left, and Ethan went forward.

"We're never going to find them," Trent mumbled. Kira just turned and smiled him, tugging on his hand to keep him going. They were climbing a hill together under the moonlight. She felt it was slightly romantic. "Kira! Lets go back to the car and wait for the other's," Trent begged. Kira turned and placed a kiss on his lips.

"Please?" she begged.

"Oh alright, fine. But we're taking a break down by those rocks," Trent said, pointing to a bunch of sharply pointed boulders that littered the ground below them. Kira smiled and nodded.

When they reached the rocks, Trent leaned against one of the largest ones, while Kira walked around, exploring a little.

"You think we're anywhere near where Trini took those pictures?" Kira asked him.

"Maybe," Trent responded. "Doubt it though. It would have to be much farther into the desert, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. But I'd love to see that place."

"Maybe she'll take you later this week," Trent suggested.

"That's if when we find him. And he actually wants to stay in Angel Grove for the next week," Kira told him, leaning against him. She held his hands and kissed him again. "Maybe should stop looking and stay out here for a little."

"Oh right," Trent laughed. "Because that would be a good idea."

"It would," she laughed back, when something shiny caught the corner of her eye. "What's that?" She said, brushing her hand across a shiny rock that had several long cracks in it, separating it like a grid. She leaned her hand against once piece. There was a whooshing sound, and the rock behind Trent split apart, causing him to tumbled backwards into the opening. "TRENT!" Kira screamed, diving in after him. Seconds later the rock slammed shut once again. "This is so not good," she muttered. "Trent, where are you?"

"Underneath you," Trent replied. Kira scrambled off of him, only to meet the rock wall inches beside her. "Thanks," he said, standing up. Slowly their eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and they found that they were in a thin, long underground corridor. "Think this is why Bulk wondered if we were doing research on the Power Rangers?"

"Certainly reminds me of the back path to Dr. O's basement," Kira replied. "Its gotta be ranger built. Probably their old command center."

"You think Dr. O might be here? After all, they would probably want to take shelter from the rain."

"Good chance," she laughed. "Which means he's fine. Come on, lets get out of here," she stated, turning around trying to open the doors which had slammed shut on them. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh? Don't say uh oh. Every time someone says uh oh, something bad happens," Trent argued.

"Well, that would be the definition of the expression. The doors won't open."

"Let me try," Trent said, pushing past her and trying to open the doors, having just as much as Kira did. "Ok, so we're stuck. I guess we go exploring?"

"Might as well. We can find Dr. O and maybe he can get us out of here." Kira suggested, before turning and leading the way down the corridor. Trent followed along, and for a while all that was heard were their footsteps echoing against the walls. "There's some light up ahead," Kira told him as they went deeper into the tunnel. Trent nodded agreement.

"Light is good," he added, as the reached the doors. He placed his fingers in the crack of the door and tried to pull. Unfortunately the doors didn't budge but actually moved closer together, nearly crushing his fingers inside them.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" Alarms sprang up and lights in the hallway turned on. A barred wall on their left rushed forward, forcing them down another hall to the right. Kira kept glancing over her shoulder as they ran, afraid that the bars would hit them and keep going.

"It's a dead end," she called to Trent who remained behind her. "We're in trouble."

"Now why didn't I think that," Trent responded as they pressed themselves up against the wall at the end of the tunnel and braced themselves for the impact of the bars, which never came. The bars stopped four feet away from them, securing them in a box prison. "Well, this is annoying," Trent said, stepping away from pinning his girlfriend to the wall. "Now what?"

Kira shrugged. "HELP!"

* * *

Conner kept glancing at his watch as he stalked through the desert on his way back to the car. He hadn't found Tommy, nor had he found anything even remotely interesting. Just a lot of rocks, and dirt, which was definitely not the way he had wanted to spend this little evening journey. Suddenly he paused beside a giant outcropping of rocks. He pause and stared at them for a few moments, studying them as if they were old friends he couldn't quite place the names of.

"I've seen you before," Conner told the rocks, slapping his face. "Which means I'm going in circles, which means I'm lost. Just great." He leaned against the rocks, placed his head back and shut his eyes. "Ok, so on the one hand, I can stand here and wait to be rescued, or on the other, I can continue walking until I find my way back." He stood there for a few moments, gazing up at the sky. "Well, I hope the other's are having better luck then I am," he stated, slipping his hands into his pockets and walking in a whole new direction, hoping he wouldn't remain lost for the rest of their vacation.

Several minutes of walking later, his cell phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"Conner, where the hell are you?" Ethan's voice asked him. Conner let out a bit of a laugh.

"That's exactly what I was wondering."

"You're lost?"

"Yep."

"So what do we do now?"

"Kira and Trent with you?" Conner asked.

"No, and neither of them are answering. Sounds like their phone's are dead."

"Alright, well, I gave you the keys, so wait on them a bit longer, then go back to the hotel. Maybe they found Dr. O and Kim, or its possible that they want some alone time. Either way, if they don't call you by morning, we'll get the others to help find them."

"And what about you?"

"I'm gonna try to get myself unlost," Conner replied. "Anyway, I'm gonna go; try to conserve phone battery. I'll be back by morning."

"If you say so," Ethan added, and hung up the phone. He leaned back against the old car and watched as the sky began to lighten. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning, and no one was in sight. He waited another half and hour, then sighed and climbed into the driver's seat of the car, and followed Bulk's directions back to his house. The former blue ranger parked the car in the drive way, stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking back to the hotel.

He walked into the lobby at nearly four in the morning, and plopped down onto one of the couches, to rest his feet and throbbing head.

"I hope they all get eaten by rabid squirrels," he grumbled to himself, as he closed his eyes for what he thought was a second.

"Ethan?" The teen's eyes popped open as he looked around for whoever it was that was addressing him. "Ethan? What on earth are you doing here this late?"

"Haley?" He mumbled exhausted, his eyes not quite working.

"Haley?" the woman repeated. "Ok, come on. Lets get you to bed, you're delirious." Aisha laughed. Rocky was with her; both were dressed as if they had gone out dancing and bar hopping, yet neither was drunk. Rocky helped the teenager to his feet.

"Your teammates in the rooms?" Rocky asked him. Ethan shrugged, to tired to understand anything that was happening.

"Don't know. Probably," he muttered as they walked into the elevator. When it opened to Aisha and Rocky's floor, Rocky gave her a kiss and told her he'd meet her in the room, before proceeding to take Ethan to his own.

"So what were you doing out here?" Rocky asked the teenager when they reached his hotel room. Ethan fumbled with wallet which held the room key until Rocky took it from him, and removed the card, handing both to him. "You weren't drinking were you? Because if you were."

"No, we were power ranger hunting," the half conscious teen replied. Rocky raised an eyebrow, and then shook his head, as the teen slipped into the room.

"Whatever, night," Rocky told him as the door closed, making a mental note to talk to him more when it was a decent hour, and when he'd have Tommy to go to if he needed someone to reprimand the teen.

* * *

A very short chapter, I know. But its setting everything up for the next round of fun: preview – more of Billy's secret is revealed; someone ends up naked; someone finds themselves in the hospital; and someone gets themselves locked in the bathroom. I promise to update soon.

Fateless Wanderer


	19. Trapped, Bleeding, and Naked

Second update in two days! YAY! No long boring introduction. Just read and enjoy.

* * *

Morning came almost too soon for Ethan. Luckily though, everyone had decided to sleep in. He rolled over in bed as the sun outside refused to remain behind the curtains, and looked at the digital clock, which read 10:00 am. He figured he must have gotten about five or so hours of sleep. The events from the previous night were still extremely hazy, but he vaguely remembered Rocky helping him to the room.

"Conner? Trent?" he whispered as his voice slowly returned. There was no answer, causing Ethan to bolt upright in bed. Both the second bed and the roll-a-way were empty, and the bathroom was as well. He frowned, pulled himself out of his bed and knocked on the connecting door. Once again, there was no answer. Ethan unlocked the door and stepped though, only to find Tommy's room empty once again. "Wonderful," he muttered coming back into his own room and getting dressed. It was time to call in the cavalry, but first, he could get breakfast.

Ten minutes and an elevator ride later, Ethan walked into the lobby, breathing in the delicious smells coming from the continental breakfast area. He was going to take his time: pancakes, and waffles, and muffins. Just what he deserved after that stupid adventure last night, especially because it might just as well be his last meal when he told the adults that his teammates had all gone missing. He was about to take a seat when he heard a familiar voice coming from around the corner.

"Cestria, I'm know I should tell them, but how can I? How can I just casually come out and say: Oh, guys, by the way I lied to you about my wife and kids. They're all still alive, but Aquitar has been invaded and enslaved, and I stood by and didn't do anything about it? Yes, dear, I know I could have told them the truth in the first place, but it still wouldn't have made a difference. I'll figure out some way to tell them before I come home. Yes, I love you too. Tell the kids I'll see them soon. Yeah, I will. Love you, bye." Billy hung up the pay phone and came face to face with his successor, jumping slightly. "Ethan, you're going to give someone a heart attack."

"You lied to Dr. O and the others about your wife and kids?" Ethan asked in response. Billy just looked at him, then sighed and nodded.

"It's more complicated than you know. Just don't say anything alright?"

"I won't; but you really should tell them whatever it. I'm sure they'll understand. You all seem pretty close," Ethan replied, his own teammates and their current predicament clearly erased from his mind. Billy nodded, steering the teenager towards breakfast.

"You're a smart kid; come on, lets get something to eat. I'm starving. By the way, what time did you all go to bed, you look like you hardly slept at all," the older ranger told him.

"It was a long night," Ethan replied simply as the two men hit the buffet and took seats at a table that would be big enough for all of them once the rest arrived.

"Tommy come back last night?" Billy asked him, starting a conversation. Ethan shook his head as he buttered his pancakes.

"Nope, he wasn't in his room this morning."

"Hmmm, I was sure they'd have navigated their way back by now. I'm sure they're fine though. But just in case, we'll probably send out a search party this later."

"Morning guys," came Rocky's voice as he, Aisha, and Adam walked into the dining area, accompanied by Trini and Jason who looked like they were dressed for hiking. "Guess what Trini wants to do today?"

"Let me guess, rock climbing?" Billy asked, examining his friend's outfit.

"How'd you know?" she said, plopping down beside him and stealing a muffin while Jason went to get them food. Aisha sat as well, while Rocky and Adam went to get food.

"Because I know you," Billy told her. "Besides, its not like you're dressed for ball room dancing."

Trini laughed, and looked around. "So, I'm guessing Tommy and Kim never made it back last night?"

"Nope," Ethan answered. Trini nodded.

"Good," Trini retorted. "More time for them to make up. And since Tommy won't leave Kimberly stranded by herself, they spent the night together."

"But where? Surely they didn't spend it out in the desert by themselves," Aisha asked as the guys came back over.

"Nope, Trini and I purposely dropped them near the power chamber. Last we saw, they were headed in that direction. They're not dumb. They'll have taken refuge from the rain inside."

"Oh," Ethan replied, feeling slightly dumb that he and the other's had thought that maybe their mentor was in trouble and had actually needed their help.

"By the way Ethan, what did you mean last night about Power Ranger hunting?" Rocky asked the teenager who got bright red.

"Last night?" Jason asked.

"Ok, well more like five o'clock this morning. Aisha and I went out last night, and we found him sleeping in the lobby when we came in."

"I – uh," Ethan struggled to find the right words.

"And where are your teammates?" Adam put in, noticing that Kira, Trent, and Conner were absent.

"WegotworriedaboutDr.OandKimberlysolastnightweleftthehotelandborrowedacarfrombulkandthenwedroveintothedesertandsplitupand  
ConnergotlostandKiraandTrentwouldn'tanswertheirphone'ssoIcamebackhereandthey'reallstillmissing."

"Did anyone understand a word he just said?" Zack asked, coming up behind the group. He looked at Billy. "You could have woken me."

"Sorry."

"And there was something about borrowing a car from Bulk and Conner getting lost," Jason interpreted. "Ethan, take a deep breath and tell us exactly what happened."

Ethan nodded. "We didn't know Trini had left Dr. O and Kimberly near shelter, and when they weren't back by midnight, we went searching for them. But we didn't know how to get to the desert, so we got directions from Bulk and he lent us his car. Anyway, we split up, and Conner got lost, and I suppose Kira and Trent did too, because neither's phone is working. But Conner told me to come back here and that everything would be fine in the morning."

"But they're not back, are they?" Trini asked him. The teen looked down and shook his head no. "Alright then. No one knows that desert better than we do. We'll go searching for them once we finish breakfast."

"No lecture? Aren't you worried at all?" Ethan demanded.

"There's only one place Kira and Trent can be if their phone's aren't getting signal. And the worst that could probably happen to Conner is that he wondered too deep. I doubt even he's dumb enough to keep going when he's really lost," Billy told the teen.

"You don't know Conner," Ethan mumbled.

"And we wouldn't lecture you. You and your friends were just trying to help. But stop it. You'll ruin my plan, especially if Trent and Kira ended up in the same place as Tommy and Kimberly," Trini retorted. "Like I said, we'll find them after breakfast.

"In that case, I'm going to go change into something more worthy of hiking through the desert," Aisha said. "I'll meet you at the cars?"

"Need company?" Rocky asked her. Aisha smiled and kissed him on the lips.

"I'm fine. I need a break," she laughed and walked off back toward the elevators, humming.

By the time she made it back down to the lobby, everyone was gone from the breakfast area. Aisha started on her way out towards the parking lot, but decided that a detour to the rest room wouldn't hurt. She gave a quick smile of good morning to one of the cleaning ladies who was re-stocking the men's room as she went in.

"Hey Alice, Bernie says I should take over," a young cleaning lady said to the older one who had just greeted Aisha. The woman nodded and smiled, handing a key ring over to the young blonde who was chewing a bunch of bubble gum. The young woman finished the men's room, and just as she was leaving, her pager beeped. She glanced down at the number, grinning when her boyfriend's name came across the display screen. Quickly she stuck a silver key in the lock of the women's room, and placed a sign on the door that read "CLOSED FOR MAINTAINENCE AND CLEANING" before walking off.

* * *

Tommy's watch alarm began beeping at some point around seven in the morning. Not surprisingly, he continued to sleep straight through it, snoring away, while Kimberly sat up in her bed, glaring at him and his watch, wondering how exactly to wake him up because it was his fault that she was awake. She had no idea how well the throwing of the shoe tactic worked, otherwise she would have thrown one of his shoes at him. No use risking her own. Instead she took a deep breath and

"TOMMY!"

The former ranger's eyes flew open and he bolted upright, instinct telling him to find and crush into dust whichever adversary was at that moment attacking the only woman in the entire world who ever held that much power over him. A moment later he realized where he was, and blushing climbed out of his bed.

"I'm going to go fix the door."

Kimberly grinned smugly as he wondered away. She liked that she still held power over him. She lay back down in the bed. No use getting up until they were free. She might as well get a few more hours of sleep (knowing how long it would take Tommy to free them). Her mind wondered over to the conversation they'd had the previous night, and how close she'd come to telling him that she still loved him. She sighed and decided that it really was a good thing the alarms had interrupted her, and that her feelings were probably best left unsaid. "He said Haley shouldn't have said anything to you, Kim. But he never said he didn't think she was right," she told herself. "Better just keep biting your tongue and just work on getting through one day without getting upset with one another," she added, and closed her eyes.

Two hours later she found herself being shaken away. She opened her eyes groggily at Tommy who was still dressed in the red jump suit. She had told the truth. She hated him in red, and she was beginning to dislike him in black as well. "Go away," she mumbled, which only caused him to laugh.

"Come on, we can get out of here and find our way back. Hopefully in the daylight with no rain this time," Tommy told her. Kimberly groaned, but obeyed and climbed out of the bed.

"The intruders?"

"Didn't check. I figured its probably some wild animal, and I'm not really in the mood to get mauled or possibly get rabies, so we'll leave through the tunnel, and I'll use the remote," he told her holding up a small hand held device he'd found while fixing the security system, "to let whatever it is out of Billy's cage."

Kimberly nodded as she slipped her sandals back on and gather up her wet clothes from the previous night. They weren't soaked but they were still damp. She looked at him and shuddered slightly.

"What?"

"Dunno; I just really hate you in red."

"You weren't lying about that?"

"Why would I lie about that?" she asked, leading the way towards the exit. "Maybe we should bring the other's back here sometime this week. I'm sure it'd be nice to have a trip down memory lane. And your teammates are probably dieing to see one of the original power ranger command posts." Kimberly said, as they passed into the tunnel. Tommy glanced down the corridor to the right, barely making out two figures in the darkness. Figuring they were animals, he shrugged and continued on with Kimberly.

"Speaking of the others. What do you say we get revenge on them for abandoning us out here?" Tommy asked her. Kimberly giggled a bit.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Oh I don't know. Just a game of simple avoidance. Trini purposely left us near the power chamber, so if they come looking, that's where they'll start. We'll just not be anywhere they choose to look."

"In theory, it's a good plan, but my purse and all my money is back at Trini and Jason's."

"Don't worry, I've got my wallet. Come on, they deserve it."

"Alright," Kimberly replied. By this time they'd reached the end of the corridor, and Tommy pulled the outer doors apart, and they slipped through. "How will these close once the animals are free?" she asked, not wanting to refer to whatever was in the tunnel as intruders.

"Another of Billy's tricks," he pressed a few buttons. "I've set it so that it will shut two minutes after something passes through the doors again."

"Ah," Kimberly replied and began walking. "See, daylight helps. I know exactly which way to go now," she laughed.

"Good, because I don't feel like following you in the wrong direction again." Tommy replied, setting off after her. Once they were a hundred yards away, Tommy pressed the cage release button and stuffed the remote in his pocket.

* * *

Conner had actually succeeded in finding his way out of the desert the night before. However, since he had no way of telling exactly where he was, he'd sort of just given up. He wandered into a nearby run down play ground around the time the sun was coming up, and had curled up into a ball on top of one of the benches, thanking god it was the middle of summer, and he wasn't likely to freeze to death.

Around eight o'clock or so the sun had gotten too bright for him to continue sleeping, and he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that the bench that had seemed so comfortable after a night of wandering around in the desert was now the worst possible bed he could have chosen. Every single part of his body ached. The second thing he noticed was that his shoes had mysteriously gone missing. And the third thing he noticed was a flyer that had been pinned to his shirt. He tore at the paper until it came off and he could read it.

"ANGEL GROVE HOMELESS SHELTER – FREE FOOD, HOUSING, AND BATHS"

He had to contain himself from laughing, although it didn't really surprise him that someone had mistaken him for homeless. Although, now that he though about it, food and a shower sounded really good right then. He flipped the flyer over and found a very easy to follow map, and after taking a minute to find where he was, he started on his way, barefoot.

By the time he reached the shelter, he was sweaty and now his back and feet were killing him. He knew he definitely looked the part of a homeless man. He trudged into the building and straight up to the front desk.

"Good morning sir," a cheery young teenager, or at least younger than Conner, greeted him. He figured she was probably just starting high school in the fall and was getting a jump on her community service. "How can I be of service?"

"I- uh. I need a shower, and well, just a shower."

"Of course," she said, still smiling. Conner wasn't really sure how she could be so optimistic being completely awake by eight in the morning, and judging from her makeup, she'd been awake for a while. "Right this way. My name's Natalie."

"Conner," he replied simply, while following Natalie over to a door. Conner pushed the door open and looked into a small room lined with lockers on one side, several shower stalls on the other, and benches between them.

"You can place your clothes in one of the lockers in there, there's soap and shampoo inside the shower stall, and here's your towel," she said, handing Conner a small, fluffy towel from a stack beside the door. Conner nodded and walked into the room. "Enjoy," Natalie called after him.

Conner walked over to the lockers and tried to open one. The door seemed jammed. He tried several more, finding the same thing. "Wonderful," he muttered, grabbing the handle of one and pulling with all his might.

"Won't open. They've been welded shut after some of the people began hiding drugs in them," a man stepping out of one of the shower's told him.

"But Natalie said…"

"Natalie's new. She's sweet, but not all too bright. Doesn't catch on quick."

"Ahh."

"You're better off just leaving your clothes under the towel," the man told him. Conner nodded and walked out of the shower area, going back to the desk where he saw Natalie.

"Done already?" she asked with that same annoyingly, sickly, sweet grin.

"Not quite," Conner replied. "The lockers are all locked. Can I leave my cell phone and wallet up here."

"Of course," she said, without even considering how a homeless teenager would have a cell phone. She took the items from him and placed them in a drawer in the desk. Conner watched her, then nodded, and walked back into the shower room where his advisor was finishing getting dressed. Conner stripped, placed his clothes under the towel, and climbed into a nice, warm shower. He'd get directions back to the hotel from someone on his way out of the shelter.

* * *

Trent was sleeping, back against the wall, feet against the bars, pressing his knees up towards his chest slightly. Kira was nestled against his chest, shivering slightly against the cool air in the tunnel.

Since no light reached them in the deep corner, neither stirred until Trent felt the weight of the bars slide away from his legs, allowing him to stretch out. He blinked slightly, remembering slowly how he'd gotten there, and that the weight against his side was his girlfriend. He leaned down slowly and kissed her forehead, brushing some of her hair away from her face. She stretched slightly, and blinked, looking up at him.

"We're free," he told her.

"Oh," was her reply. Despite the uncomfortable position, she was actually happy they'd gotten to spend some alone time together. They'd stayed up late talking, after giving up calling for help. Where ever Dr. O and Kimberly were, they obviously couldn't here them.

"Come, let's get out of here, find our way back. Or do you want to continue exploring?" Trent asked her, grinning and standing up.

"No. No more exploring. We'll get them to bring us back here," Kira answered, following his lead. Trent took her hand and lead her up the tunnels, back towards where they'd come in, shuddering when they passed the double doors that had caused all the problems. "When we get back to the hotel, remind me to kill Dr. O," she stated.

"Somehow I think the security surpasses Dr. O's ability," Trent replied.

"Ok, so remind me to kill Billy." Trent just laughed as they reached the exit. "Great, the doors are still closed."

Trent frowned, put his fingers in the crack and pried the doors apart. The doors immediately parted. "Told you we were free," he laughed, taking her hand again and pulling her through the doors and out into the fresh air. "Ok, so now which way?"

"Foot prints," Kira stated.

"What?"

"Foot prints. And those are Kimberly's sandals. We follow these, we find our mentor, and then we kill him."

"I thought you wanted to kill Billy."

"Doesn't matter," she replied, starting to follow the foot prints leading away from Power Chamber back towards Angel Grove. Trent just laughed and followed her.

About an hour later the footprints stopped, but they could see the road where they'd left the car the night before. Unfortunately, Tommy and Kimberly were still no where in sight.

"So, now what?" Trent asked her. "Back to the hotel?"

"Or we could go somewhere else?" Kira suggested.

"You've been spending too much time with Conner," Trent informed her. Kira hit him.

"Alright, alright, we'll go back to the hotel," Kira said, fishing her cell phone out of pocket, and dialing Conner's number. The phone rang several times.

"Hello," said a very cheerful, young, female voice. Kira frowned, startled. She glanced that her phone screen, which showed she had dialed the right number.

"Um… hi. I was looking for Conner?"

"This is Conner's phone. I'm Natalie," the girl replied. Kira blinked.

"Is he there?" she asked, getting frustrated, and confused.

"He's in the shower. Who should I tell him called?"

"Uh, tell him to call Kira back, immediately," Kira said.

"Will do. Have a wonderful day," Natalie told her, then hung up the phone, leaving a very stunned Kira on the other end.

"What's wrong?" Trent asked her, as Kira shut her phone.

"A girl answered Conner's phone and told me he was in the shower. She couldn't have been more than fourteen years old."

"Dr. O is going to kill him," Trent responded, taking out his own phone and dialing Ethan's phone.

"Trent? Where the hell have you and Kira been all night?" Ethan answered without even saying hello.

"Good to hear from you too, Ethan. We got trapped by some security in an old Power Ranger command place."

"Really?" Ethan asked. Kira snatched the phone from Trent.

"Yes Ethan, really. So sorry you couldn't have been there," she told him sarcastically. "We're still lost, so give the phone to one of adults so we can get out of here."

"Alright alright," Ethan said. "It's Kira and Trent. They're lost," he told the adults. Trini took the phone from the teenager.

"Kira?"

"Trini tell Billy I'm going to kill him for his stupid security systems," Kira responded.

"Got trapped in the Power Chamber, huh?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Alright, where are you guys?" Trini laughed.

"Back on the road at the edge of the desert."

"Ok, stay there. We'll be there in a few minutes," Trini replied. "We just have to wait on Aisha to come back."

"Alright, we'll be here." Kira replied and hung up Trent's phone.

"As soon as Aisha gets here, we've got to go get Kira and Trent. They're at the edge of the desert."

"What happened to them?" Adam asked, leaning against the wall.

"One of Billy's security system's trapped them inside the tunnels of the Power Chamber. Oh yeah, Billy, Kira's going to kill you," Trini laughed.

"Wonderful, what will I tell my wife," Billy responded, laughing a bit as well, not noticing that Adam, Rocky, Jason, Zack, and Trini were all staring at him as if he'd grown another head.

"Billy, didn't you say Cestria was dead?" Jason asked him. Billy realized his mistake and sighed, placing his head in his hands. "You lied?" Billy nodded, refusing to look up. "What else did you lie about? Your kids? Are they alive too?" Once again, a nod. "Billy, what's going on?"

"I- Later? When we're all together?" Billy asked.

"So you can lie again?" Jason snapped.

"No. So I don't have to repeat myself, ok. I lied, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have but I didn't have a choice!" Billy yelled back.

"You could have told the truth," Jason shouted back.

"Jason, calm down," Trini stated, wrapping her arms protectively around one of her best friends. "Of course you can tell us later, Billy. Jason, if Billy lied, he had a good reason. But that doesn't mean he should have lied." Trini said, looking between the two men.

"Yeah Billy, we're your friends. Whatever you have to tell us, we'll understand," Adam told him.

"Yeah man. What Adam said," Zack said, squeezing Billy's shoulder.

"Jason?"

"Yeah," the former red Ranger nodded. "No more lies?" he asked Billy.

"No more lies," Billy repeated.

"Where the heck is Aisha?" Zack asked. Rocky shrugged.

"I'll go find her. You guys go get Kira and Trent, we'll meet you there."

The other's nodded and watch Rocky disappear back into the hotel.

"We'll take Zack's car and our SUV," Jason stated, and lead the way over to cars, hoping that the tension would break.

* * *

"So, fearless leader, where are we going?" Kimberly asked Tommy as they wondered down the streets of Angel Grove. Tommy, hands in his pockets, just shrugged.

"No where in particular. You hungry?"

"Starved," she told him. Tommy nodded.

"Breakfast it is," he replied. "So…"

"So…" she repeated, sort of like a parrot.

"Come on now. We can't fall to awkward silence now. Not when things were looking up. Tell me what you've been up to since…"

"Since I almost killed you under the influence of evil?" Kimberly laughed.

"You did not almost kill me."

"Ha!"

"You didn't!" Tommy protested, pushing against her for a moment. Kim pushed back playfully.

"Whatever," she laughed. "Anyway, I moved to New York, got a job at a fashion magazine, and somehow ended up working alongside a fashion designer."

"How do you somehow end up working with a fashion designer?" Tommy asked.

"How do you somehow end up a paleontologist/power ranger?" Kimberly retorted.

"Fair enough," he replied, as the reached a local restaurant that served breakfast. "Here good?"

"Delightful," she laughed as he held the door open for them. There wasn't any wait, and they were immediately seated in a booth at the very rear of the establishment, which Tommy though was a good thing. They wouldn't be easily found. "Don't you think, maybe, just maybe, we're playing right into Trini's plan?"

"Or Jason's?" Tommy asked her back.

"You think he's plotting as well?"

"They're all plotting. Trini tries to use reverse psychology. Jason's got a more direct approach. Trini figured we'd end up together at the power chamber. But it was Jason who triggered the argument. Now we just have to figure out who's on who's side."

"Technically, they're all on the same the side," Kimberly reminded him, as the waitress took their orders.

"True. So does it matter? We can have our own plan," he suggested.

"And what would that be?" Kimberly asked, sipping her water. Tommy grinned across from her.

"We fake it. If they think we're back together, maybe they'll leave us alone."

Kimberly just laughed. "I said I didn't hate you. That doesn't mean I want to crawl in bed with you Dr. Oliver."

"Hate's got just as much passion as Love. They're a step away from each other. You'll want me, sooner or later."

"I'd rather jump in the sack with Goldar," she retorted.

"Ooo, ouch, that hurt. Didn't you say you weren't sure if he was even a man?"

"Still, rather have Goldar."

"You're horrible," Tommy told her.

"You're worse," she replied. "But I like the idea. Do you think we could get away with it?"

Tommy nodded and accepted his food from the waitress: three pancakes, four slices of French toast, three scrambled eggs, a few strips of bacon, several sausages, and two rolls, topped in mounds of syrup. Kimberly just sort of stared at him when the waitress set down a plate with two pancakes and a egg in front of her.

"How can you eat all that?"

"With my mouth," Tommy told her. They talked and schemed all the way through breakfast. Their main plot point was to stay conveniently missing for the remainder of the day. When they did make an appearance, they'd be sure to stand as close to one another as possible, hold hands, make jokes. Little things that friends, as well as boyfriends and girlfriends often do. Tommy paid the bill, tacking on another thing Kim had to pay him back for. Kimberly laughed, and told him breakfast didn't count since he was supposed to be pretending to be her boyfriend, to which of course Tommy replied that in order for him to buy her things, she'd have to be sleeping with him.

"But it wasn't like that when we were kids," Kimberly protested as they left the restaurant, Tommy's shoulder accidentally brushing against that of a guy going into the place with his wife.

"I was stupid back then. Had no idea how relationships were supposed to work," Tommy replied.

"Hey, you!" the man called after them. "You just bump into me and you're going to walk off."

"I'm sorry," Tommy said whirling around. "I didn't even realize I'd done that," he apologized. The man just stepped forward and swung his fist at Tommy's face, hitting him exactly where Jason had hit him Tuesday night, causing the old pain to rise up and overwhelm him. Tommy stumbled and fell backwards, slamming his head on the cement, and fading into unconsciousness; the last thing he heard was Kimberly scream his name.

* * *

Conner stepped out of the shower feeling refreshed and ultimately ready to start the day. Ok, well, maybe he still needed to eat something, but after a night sleeping on the streets and having his shoes stolen after hiking across a barren desert, the shower felt pretty good. Now he just needed some clean clothes. He reached for his towel, and began to dry himself off. The only thing that remained slightly wet was his hair as he made a move to grab his t-shirt… which was missing, as were his boxers, his shorts, and his socks. So he didn't just need clean clothes, he needed clothes.

Angry, he wrapped the tiny towel around his waist and walked out into the lobby of the homeless shelter, only to find Natalie still grinning at him like an idiot. The dumb teen didn't even look away as the older teen strode over to her naked, save the skimpy towel.

"My clothes are gone!" he shouted at her. "Didn't you see some fully clothed man walk out of there carrying another set of clothes?"

"Um, yes, he said he was getting them dry cleaned."

"And you believed that a homeless man would be getting his clothing dry cleaned. What kind of idiot are you?" Conner demanded, suddenly struck by the irony of the situation. Who would ever have expected him to be calling someone else an idiot.

"Um, I don't know the different kinds, sir. Maybe you should calm down."

"Calm down? I'm wearing a god damn towel!"

"It's a very nice towel, sir. Very slimming," Natalie replied, backing away from the now hysterical Conner, who just stared at her like she was the biggest idiot he'd ever seen. Which in reality, she probably was.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Get me so damn clothing."

"I'm afraid I don't have any sir. You should have put your clothes in a locker. Some of the homeless people here are thieves. We don't like to discriminate," Natalie told him. Conner's face turned a red color very reminiscent of his ranger suit. He seriously couldn't believe the stupidity in front of him. "Here's your wallet and your cell phone," she added, handing him the items. "And you can keep the towel, on us," she smiled cheerfully. Conner growled, grabbed his belongings and strode out onto the street in nothing but the towel. "Oh! And your girlfriend called!"

Conner just blinked a few times and glanced down at his phone. He checked the recent calls file only to see that there had been a two minute call received from Kira's phone. Cursing his luck, he hit the redial button and he walked the streets headed back to the hotel. Thank god he was only about two blocks away.

"Conner!" Kira answered her phone. "What the hell were you doing with a young girl in a shower?"

"What? No!" Conner argued back. "I stopped at a homeless shelter to take a shower this morning. Let my phone with that dumb idiot. Good thing I did too," he told her.

"Why?"

"Why the shower? Well, lets see, I was dirty and smelled, so I thought it was only polite to-"

"Not the shower. Leaving your cell phone?"

"Oh, well, some ass stole all my clothing. So now I'm walking back to the hotel in nothing but a towel. WHOA! Damn dog! Get back here with that, I need that!"

"Conner? Conner, what's going on?"

"Dog stole my towel, got to go," he said, hanging up the phone. He turned to go chasing after the dog and slammed right into the chest of an Angel Grove PD officer. "Hi there."

"Where are your clothes son?"

"Well you see, what happened was… oh, why even bother." Conner sighed, dropped his head and held out his wrists, which were immediately cuffed by the officer, and Conner found himself escorted into the back seat of a police cruiser. At least no one else could see him naked.

* * *

Rocky was sitting in the lobby by the elevators waiting patiently for Aisha to come down. He kept glancing at his watch, wondering exactly what was taking her so long, but knowing that if he went up, she'd accuse him of having no patience and then, well, it would be a very long day. He had just worked up enough nerve to go and call up to the room when his cell phone rang.

"Aisha, baby, what's keeping you?"

"Rocky, I'm locked in the bathroom!" she cried over the phone sounding very distressed.

"Up in the room? How'd you do that?" he asked her with a slight laugh.

"Not in the room. In the lobby," she called. "Some lady was cleaning the men's room and she must not have checked to see if anyone was in the women's. Anyway, she just locked it. And there's an old lady in here who keeps coughing, and a little girl who need her asthma inhaler, which is with her mother by the pool," she added, in a whispered tone. "Get me out of here."

"Calm down," Rocky told her. "I'll let the manager know and we'll have you free in a minute."

"Hurry, the little girl just started crying!"

Rocky just laughed and went over to the counter. "Excuse me, sir?" he asked, getting the attention of one of the people behind the counters. "My fiancé is locked in your women's room, along with an elderly woman and a young child."

The man behind the counter sighed. "Damn it, that's the eight time this month that Kelly's locked the bathroom and run off with her boyfriend," he told Rocky, but didn't move.

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"Of course. I'll report her to our manager at today's staff meeting. Not that'll do any good; Kelly's his niece."

"I mean about getting them out," Rocky said angrily.

"Oh that. I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"Kelly has the only key. We had a spare, but Kelly lost it," the man said. Rocky just stared at him dumbly.

"Great. Just great." He picked up his phone and dialed Adam's number.

"What's up Rocky? We just picked up Kira and Trent. We're going to head over to the Power Chamber."

"Go on without us. Aisha got herself locked in the bathroom, and its going to be a while until we can get her out."

"You're not serious," Adam laughed.

"Believe me, I wish I wasn't. She's trapped inside with a little girl with Asthma and a sick, old woman."

"Oh boy," Adam laughed. "Good luck when she gets out."

"Gee, thanks. We'll catch up to you guys later," Rocky said, hanging up the phone. It was already shaping up to be one very interesting morning.

* * *

An hour later Kimberly was sitting in a chair beside a hospital bed where Tommy still lay unconscious. The doctor's had stitched up his lip and the back of his skull, saying he'd be fine after he'd gotten a little sleep. She flipped through several magazines, and was currently drinking a very bad cup of hospital coffee while listening to the afternoon news which was going on and on about the sudden lack of crime. The government was attributing it to the up coming Power Rangers Celebration which they figured was scaring people into behaving. Not that Kimberly remembered ever really turning in human criminals. Usually, they'd just stuck to defending the city from alien invaders bent on world domination.

"Ok Zordon, we'll be right there," Tommy mumbled from his bed. "It's morphin time," he added, just a little bit louder.

Kimberly laughed and went over to him, placing a hand on his lips. "Quiet or you'll expose us," she told him, as his eyes blinked open slightly.

"Kimberly come on, Rita's attacking the youth center."

"You're delirious," she laughed, getting a cup of water, and running her hand over his head. "Must be your pain medication. You took quite a fall."

Tommy blinked a few times, then looked around only to find himself in the hospital. He sat back a little too roughly, aggravating his stitches. "Kim? What happened?" he asked, running his hand over his scar and the one that was throbbing on his lip.

"Glad to see you're back in the present," she laughed again. "You got punched in the face by that guy outside the restaurant. Police took him into custody when the ambulance took you here. You've got stitches in your head and lip."

"Wonderful," he muttered, sipping the cup of water she handed him.

"Oh, and they had to shave a spot on the back of your head to get to the wound. You really split it open."

"What?" She nodded, watching an angry scowl appear on his face. "How long do we have to stay?"

"A few more hours. The doctor's want to make sure you don't have a concussion. On the bright side, we don't have to look for a place to hide from the other's for the day."

"I didn't mean for us to spend it in the hospital."

"Neither did I. But I wasn't the one who just tried to morph and save the youth center from Rita."

"I said that out loud?" he asked her, eyes wide.

"Yep," she laughed, pulling her chair closer to his bed. Suddenly the room phone rang. She leaned forward and picked up the receiver.

"Dr. Oliver's room. This is Kimberly Hart speaking," she said into the receiver.

"Ms. Hart we have an incoming call from the Angel Grove police station regarding a Mr. McKnight for Dr. Oliver," the nurse said into the line.

"I'll take the call," Kimberly replied, frowning, not wanting to alert Tommy. A moment later Conner's voice came through the phone.

"Dr. O?"

"No It's me, Kim. Tommy's a little incapacitated at the moment. What's going on?"

"Kimberly, I've been arrested for indecent exposure. I either pay of fine of $100 dollars or I stay in jail," the teenager whined. "And I only have $50 on me."

"Alright, I'll send someone."

"Thanks Kim," he replied.

"Your welcome," she replied, slightly amused.

"And Kim; bring clothes!" Conner replied, hanging up the phone. Kimberly just stared at the receiver.

"Who was that?" Tommy asked her.

"Uh… it was Conner."

"What's wrong?"

"He's uh… he's been arrested. And I uh, think he's naked."

* * *

I don't think it would have been possible for me to update any sooner than that. I hope that satisfies you for a little while. YAY for two chapters in two days. And yay for resuming Chaos. I hope you all enjoyed. No preview though, cause I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen next.

Fateless Wanderer


	20. Trouble everywhere you turn

So I want to start this chapter with just a quick author's note. This is the twentieth chapter, and I'm so excited about that. It means so much to me that you all are reading this and enjoying it. I know grammar mistakes are an issue, but I don't have a beta, because, well, none of my friends really like this stuff… I'm pretty sure most of them think I'm crazy for choosing Power Rangers as a subject matter. But hey, success with a story is better spelt out by the 260+ reviews I've received from strangers for Requiem for an Era, than the 50 or so reviews I get from friends on completed stories. So basically what I'm saying here is Thank you. Thank you all for the support you've shown me in your reviews and that I hope you will continue to show as long as this story peaks your interest.

Ok, so no more babbling. Back to the story… (which is literally writing itself with no planning at this moment. It's taken on a life of its own).

* * *

"He's been what?" Tommy screamed, aggravating his head even more. He groaned, and placed his hand against it, wincing in pain.

"Calm down," Kimberly told him. "He's not being charged. He just has to pay $100 for indecent exposure. I'll call Aisha and have her and the other's bring $50 over, he's got the other $50"

"Tell her I'll pay them back," Tommy informed her. Kimberly nodded and picked up the phone to start dialing. She was really glad she'd given the nurses Tommy's phone and asked them to route all the calls to his room, since they couldn't use cell phone's in hospitals. "I don't even want to know how he accomplished this one. Where the heck were his teammates when this happened?" Kimberly shrugged in answer, listening to the phone ring. Finally, a very distressed sounding Aisha answered the phone.

"Are they going to get me out," her friend answered into the phone.

"Aisha? You ok?"

"No! I'm trapped in a bathroom. And where are you?" Aisha answered back.

"God, leave you all alone for a few hours and the world goes nuts. Never mind where I am. Listen, don't worry about the stuff for Saturday. Tommy and I will still take care of it, but I need you to do me a favor. Call one of the others and tell them they need to go down to Angel Grove police station."

"Why? What do you mean the world's gone nuts?"

"You're locked in a bathroom. And Conner's been arrested. Something about indecent exposure. He asked me to bring clothing."

"Conner's been arrested for being naked?" Aisha asked, trying to keep her voice low. The two other bathroom occupants kept shooting her looks.

"Yep. Can you call someone for me?"

"Yeah, alright. I need to find out why Rocky hasn't gotten me out of here already, anyway. Tell Tommy not to worry. We'll rescue Conner."

"Oh, and Sha, he needs another $50 to pay his fine. Tommy says he'll pay whoever back later."

"Alright. But when are you coming home?"

"Don't know," Kimberly replied. "Having too much fun," she added with a sly grin, and hung up. Let Aisha deal with that little mystery for a bit.

"Aisha's stuck in a bathroom?" Tommy asked Kimberly, eyebrow raised. Kim nodded, sitting back down in the chair beside his bed.

"The world apparently falls apart when we're not there," she informed him, squeezing his hand. "How's the pain?"

"Horrible. How are we going to explain this to the others?" Tommy laughed.

"We'll tell the truth. You bumped into a drunk idiot, forgot to say you're sorry, and got your light's punched out."

"Well, that would work for a normal person."

"You're a normal person," Kimberly told him. Tommy looked at her as if to say "are you kidding me". She just laughed. "Alright, alright. Even I could have seen that fist coming. You should have ducked and kicked his legs out from under him. And instead of screaming like every other woman would have done, I could have gone all ninjetti on him and exposed us."

"Point taken. You seem to be winning a lot in this newly formed relationship," Tommy told her. She laughed.

"That's because I've got superior intellect." Once again, Tommy stared at her. "What no come back, Mr. PhD?"

"I just hit my head on some very hard pavement. Forgive me if my responses aren't as quick witted as yours. And I seem to recall a time when you did some pretty dumb things."

"Name one," she argued, placing her hands on her hips.

"The time your car got stolen and you got into a moving vehicle with Bulk and Skull, which got turned into a monster. Took us a little while to free you from that one."

"Fine, point goes to you on that one," Kimberly laughed. "We only have to stay in the hospital. What do you say we go for a walk?"

"This one of those backless gowns?" Tommy asked her.

"You've got your boxers on, you big baby," Kim responded, lowering the bed's side rail so he could swing his legs over the side, slipping his feet into the foam hospital shoes on the floor.

"Wish these things were more comfortable."

"You're so needy," Kimberly teased him, only to receive a glare in return. She hugged him around the waist. "I'm glad you're ok. Just no more getting punched in the face."

"Don't worry, two times is my limit per week."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Kira questioned the adults as they trudged deeper in to the desert, back the way she and Trent had journeyed that morning. Trini and Jason were leading the way, while Billy remained a safe distance away from the disgruntled young former yellow ranger, who had kicked him in the shin with a martial arts move she could have only learned from Tommy, the moment that the adults had arrived.

"Power Chamber," Trini called back.

"So that's what you call that place," Trent remarked.

Adam nodded. "It never served as a home base for Trini, Zack, Aisha, or Kimberly though. "The command center above it was destroyed just before we got our Zeo powers."

"So those rocks, weren't rocks? They're the rubble from the collapsed command center?"

"Yep," Jason answered, as they once again, climbed the ridge.

"Just so you all know, we tried to open two doors inside and that's what caused Billy's cage to activate," Trent told them.

"The emergency intruder alert system," Billy answered. "That means the power chamber had recognized occupants and it was trying to protect them from unrecognized intruders. It only goes off when we're powered down."

"So Dr. O was inside the Power Chamber? With Kimberly?" Ethan asked. Zack nodded.

"Billy's got the device set so that it recognizes the Zeo rangers and everyone who came before."

"I added the turbo rangers as well," Billy added as an after thought. "So even though Kira and Trent were rangers, the system's out dated. I'm glad to see it still works. I'll add you four in. Does anyone have anything Conner touched recently?"

"I've got Bulk's car keys. Will those work?" Ethan asked as they reached the area where Trent had fallen in the night before. Both he and Kira steered clear of the door, while Ethan followed their lead.

"Yep. I can locate his finger prints and lift them. The technology is from Aquitar, so its really advanced."

"So advanced that it nearly killed us," Kira mumbled.

"I said I was sorry," Billy argued back, slightly scared that he might get kicked again. He pressed several buttons on the key pad and the doors whooshed right open.

His friends stared at him for a few seconds before Jason finally broke. "How did you remember that code? We made it so it was impossible to crack, and that's all I remember."

Billy laughed. "Do you really want to know?" he paused for a moment and turned to Kira and Trent. "How did you get in, anyway? Was it left open?"

"No, Trent was leaning against the doorway, and I pressed against one of those," Khe said pointing at the rock shaped buttons.

"Tommy and Kim must have started putting in the code, and forgot the last key; I'm betting Tommy forced the doors open and then closed again," Adam suggested to which Billy nodded.

"That wouldn't have caused the system to reset. Ok, so Kira, Ethan, Trent. Don't touch anything until we're completely inside. The system will thing you're still intruders," Billy told them, getting another glare from Kira. "Yellow rangers hold grudges," he mumbled, just loud enough for Trini to hear. She laughed and hit him lightly, as Adam proceeded in first, followed by Jason, then Trini, then the teens, and Zack and Billy brought up the rear, each feeling the static shock of the system checking them out as they passed through. "Adam, is the key pad working?"

"No, the wires have been shredded," the former black ranger replied, as they reached the inner doors. He and Jason proceeded to each grab a side and slide the doors apart. Kimberly and Tommy turned the lights out, so only the soft glow of the auxiliary power illuminated the area. Adam went to one of the consuls while Jason went into the medical bay, and Billy went to the security panel, leading the three teenagers, and began inputting their data.

"They were here. But they're not anymore," Jason told the group, coming out of the medical bay holding a blanket and a pillow in his hands.

"We could have told you they weren't here anymore," Kira informed him.

"Yeah, we followed their footprints out of the desert," Trent replied.

"Those little sneaks," Trini laughed. "They're back in Angel Grove, somewhere."

"Should we go looking?" Zack asked. Both Jason and Trini shook their heads, grinning.

"That's what they'll be expecting us to do. No, they're going to enjoy their alone time," Jason told them. "Besides, I'm still up for rock climbing after we're done here."

"We'll have to go back to the hotel and get Rocky and Aisha," Trini added.

"And find Conner," Ethan reminded them.

"Do we really have to?" Trent complained.

"Yes," both Kira and Ethan answered, although they were laughing.

"All finished," Billy announced. "Feel free to look around. Obviously it's not what it once was."

"Being back here reminds me of the time Rocky turned into a plant," Adam said, leaning against the wall, and looking at one of the beds.

"He almost turned into a plant? How does one accomplish that?" Trent asked, coming over.

"YAY! Story time," Kira giggled, following him.

"I agree, this is definitely something I want to hear," Trini replied, as the group sat down in the center of the power chamber.

"Ok, there's not a whole lot to tell. It was during our time with the Zeo powers, when I was green, Rocky was blue, Tommy red, Kat was pink, and Tanya was yellow."

"Tanya's your girlfriend, right?" Ethan asked, reminding himself of the bits and pieces he'd been learning all week. Adam blushed slightly and nodded.

"Anyway, Rocky and I were working with the angel grove youth botanists at the green house. Anyway, Rocky, pretty stupidly took two random seeds and made some weird, metal eating, hybrid plant beast."

"He made a plant that eats metal? Is that even possible?" Ethan asked. Billy looked at him and shrugged.

"I suppose if it is, than Rocky would have to have been the one to accidentally create one. Please, continue Adam."

"Well, Bulk and Skull," Adam continued, only laughing when Jason interrupted with an "again". "Bulk and Skull stole a piece and planted it as their own project when Rocky and I left to ask Alpha to analyze a sample and tell us what Rocky did. On our way back, we caught King Mondo's goons stealing both Rocky and Skull's plants. We morphed, but failed to stop them."

"A metal eating plant in the hands of the enemy?" Trent asked, eyebrows raised. "We've fought some pretty dumb monsters in the past, but that sounds hysterical."

"And there were two of them. Incredibly dumb, but incredibly strong, thanks to Rocky. So basically, the five of us attempted to fight them, and were loosing until they started fighting each other, and Mondo called them back. Rocky was supposed to go off and check the library to find something to beat them with."

"Let me guess, he didn't make it?" Zack asked, laughing.

"Nope. Met up with the plant he'd grown and got sprayed by some weird pollen. He managed to teleport himself back to the Power Chamber, where we had the wonderful pleasure of meeting the half-man-half-vegetable he was slowly becoming."

"Oh god," Trini laughed.

"You don't know the half of it. He was turning green, with leave growing off of weird places. And it already seemed to have turned his brain to mush. I swear to death he called Tommy and I the chowder rangers."

"Chowder rangers?" Kira laughed. Adam just nodded.

"Obviously he denies it, and Tommy claims he doesn't remember a lot from that day; but he said it. Also told Kat she had nice leaves, and branches."

"Leaves?"

"We guessed it meant hair, but we can't be too sure."

"Branches?" Zack snorted.

"Tommy says he was referring to her arms; Tanya and I swear he was referring to her breasts."

"Rocky?" Trini asked. "I hardly think he was…"

"He was referring to her breasts," both Jason and Billy said in unison laughing.

"So what happened?" Kira asked.

"Oh, we went off to fight, and plainly got our butts kicked, while Rocky declined to a point where he could barely speak. Lucky he pulled his last grain of knowledge into reminding Zordon that pure Oxygen kills plants. They doused Rocky and cured him… but I think he lost a little up here," Adam told them, pointing at his head. "Long story short, with Rocky's help, we won, which is more like duh, or you guys wouldn't be former rangers."

"It's a safe bet to say that every one of their stories ends in a win," Ethan laughed, directing his statement at Kira and Trent, both who nodded agreement. "So this place is pretty cool. What was in those?" he asked, pointing at some cracked glass cases at the back of the Power Chamber.

Jason, Adam, and Billy all smiled. "Our old suits. The original ones; well, Original pink, blue, and white. It was the second set of red, yellow, and black, since Trini, Zack, and I can still morph."

"I can still morph," Adam replied.

"Ok, let me rephrase. We can still morph without risking death," Jason added.

"Death?" Kira said, not looking too happy. She was sort of glad that none of her friends had tried to morph with their lifeless gems.

"I don't recommend trying it," Adam laughed. "It was the most painfull experience of my life."

"Can we hear it?" Trent pushed.

"Another time," Billy told them as Adam's phone rang again. He hoped it was Rocky telling them they'd gotten Aisha out of the bathroom. "We should get going, it's nearing lunch. And we still have to find Conner."

"Conner's where?" Adam said loudly. "He did what? Does Tommy know? Aisha spoke to Kim? Where are they? She seriously said that? Alright, we'll be there." Adam hung up the phone and turned to Billy. "Any chance we could teleport to the cars?" Billy just shook his head.

"No power, and of course there's the exposure risk," Billy reminded him.

"What's going on?" Kira asked.

"Your red ranger got himself arrested for being naked in the middle of the street. Tommy know's. Kimberly called Aisha, who called Rocky. She's still locked in the bathroom. The cleaning woman hasn't come back from her date yet."

"Where are Kimberly and Tommy?" Zack asked, as the group began shutting everything down.

"Kim wouldn't say. Just told Aisha she wasn't sure when they were coming back. They were having too much fun."

"Did she really say they?" Trini asked.

"I'm not sure; does that matter?" Adam replied frowning, as they made their way back through the tunnel and out into the fresh air.

"Yeah, because if she only said she was having too much fun, it could very well mean she ditched Tommy and is out on a shopping spree with his credit card." Trini reminded them.

"Good point. We'll ask Aisha when we get her out. Think we may need to call in the big guns?" Jason asked.

"Jason Scott, there is no way you're going to morph to get Aisha out of a public restroom!"

"Please?"

"No!" Trini argued, causing the whole group too laugh, with Zack muttering "whipped".

"You aren't either, Zack," Trini reminded him. They argued the whole way back to the cars.

* * *

Aisha had called Rocky as soon as Kimberly hung up, and he in turn had called Adam and told him to get his and everyone else's asses back to the hotel. He wasn't going to deal with a disgruntled yellow ranger trapped in a bathroom, a naked teenage red ranger, and two missing former rangers all alone. No way, no how did he deserve that kind of punishment.

He'd been pacing back and fourth in the lobby for about an hour and a half, glancing at the front door, hoping to see the stupid cleaning lady or his friends come walking through. He wasn't sure he even cared which came first anymore. He was also running out of excuses to get his angry fiancé off the phone every time she called, which was just about every five minutes. And after her last call in which she called him just about every profanity in the English language, and the African languages she'd learned, plus her French from high school, he wasn't sure he still had a fiancé.

Rocky'd just about given up when Adam walked in, leading the rest of his friends. "Please tell me you have a plan?" Rocky begged, as his cell phone rang. "Don't make me answer that without you having a plan!"

"Calm down. Jason, Zack, Billy, and I have a plan. Now if Trini will let us use it," Adam said, his voice trailing off.

"Oh fine. But we're doing it under my parameters," she said, throwing her hands up in the air. Rocky smiled and grabbed his phone as it rang for the sixth time.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Aisha, calm down, the other's are back and we're going to get you out."

"Who's plan is this?"

"Uh…" Rocky didn't know how to answer her without getting himself yelled at.

"I don't want to know. I'm waiting," she told him.

"Tell her to steer clear of the door," Jason told Rocky while Trini sent the teens upstairs to get clothing for Conner and told them to wait until she called them, taking Kira's cell phone number.

"Jason says to stay clear of the door," Rocky repeated.

"…" Aisha just paused, took a deep breath, and shook her head. "This had better work," she added, hanging up the phone.

"So, what's the plan?" Rocky asked. Five minutes later, Rocky, Adam, and Zack entered the men's room. Trini, Billy, and Jason pretended they had something to do out on the pool deck so no one would put them together with the incident.

Adam entered the men's room alone, first, while Rocky and Zack faked a conversation while counting to thirty. If Adam didn't come back out, it meant there were other people in the rest room and Rocky and Zack would need to enter together. If he did, only Zack would enter, and Rocky and Adam would conveniently block the door.

"Thirty," Rocky said out loud. Zack let out an annoyed groan, and lead the way into the bathroom. Adam caught his eye quickly in the mirror, directing him to the corner stall, into which both Zack and Rocky entered. That was enough to make the other man in the men's room, finish his business swiftly, and dart out of the bathroom.

"Nice going guys. You don't need to make any noise," Adam told them, laughing as he left the men's room, to join Jason who was now standing to the left of the door. In order for someone to enter now, they would have to pass directly between the two men, interrupting their conversation, which would one, be rude, and two, cause both men to fake anger, and start a riot. Luckily, the man from the bathroom seemed to have warned just about everyone else in the lobby about the homosexual relationship taking place in the men's room (again).

There was a muffled shout and a flash of light, during which, inside the bathroom, once again alone in a stall, Zack morphed. He took his blaster out of his holder and set it down on top of the toilet. Then, in a second flash of light, he powered down. He stepped out of the stall, concealing the blaster between his left arm and his side, as he and Rocky exited the rest room together. As they passed between Adam and Jason, Zack shifted the blaster into Jason's hands, then proceeded to head into the main area of the hotel with Rocky, completely aware of the stares they were both receiving. He absolutely hated Trini's parameters, since the original plan had been for him to leave the hotel, morph, blast open the door, and then in the smoke, disappear and meet the rest of the group at the police station. Trini figured it would raise too much suspicion, so now the entire hotel though he and Rocky were gay. Luckily Rocky planned to make an appearance only a moment later when Aisha was free, and kiss her liked he'd never kissed her before: for two purposes. One, he needed to make sure the hotel didn't question his sexual orientation, and thus preventing it from getting back to Aisha; and two, he needed to make sure she didn't remove the engagement ring because she'd been stuck in there so long.

Adam made sure to stay on the outside of Jason as they pretended to finish their conversation and walked out to the pool, passing the women's room as they went. Zack had calibrated the blaster to it's lowest power inside the men's room, so as they passed, Jason tilted the weapon towards the lock, and shot it off, letting a muffled pop sound outside the bathroom, while the remainder of the sound echoed inside the restroom, causing smoke to billow inwards. The little girl screamed and started crying, while the old woman jumped and began coughing harder. Aisha just blinked, figuring what had just made that sound, and waited a few moment's for the smoke to clear and to give her friends time to clear the scene, before proceeding to open the door, and let herself and her fellow captives out. The old woman kept giving her strange looks as she wondered off to go out her own business, and the child nearly knocked her over in her scared rush to find her mother. Aisha casually walked out, spotting Rocky standing against the wall, pretending to read a news paper quietly. None of the others were in sight. She smiled and ran over to him, completely stunned when he picked her up, spun her around, then held out an empty ring box to her. She looked at him like he was nuts until he randomly kissed her passionately, and all her friends suddenly came out of hiding, clapping and cheering. They started randomly congratulating the couple.

"What are you doing?" she asked Rocky in a hushed tone. Either they'd all cracked their skulls or this was part of their cover plan.

"Just go with it," Rocky muttered back. "We've got to give Zack time to put the blaster away," Rocky insisted. Aisha suddenly realized the ranger Rocky mention was just appearing coming around the corner, stuffing a silver device back into his jeans pocket, before jumping into the group like he'd been there all along.

"Fine, but spare the details; I don't really want, nor do I need to know," she laughed, hugging him around the neck. "And I now have an unhealthy fear of public restrooms… and children, and old women," she told him, causing Rocky to laugh, and as Trini made a phone call up to the teen's, he noticed their plan had worked.

Now everyone thought he had been in the restroom with Zack, showing his friend an engagement ring he'd bought, and now he'd made it look like he'd just proposed, and Aisha was none the wiser and she hadn't tried to kill him. Things were looking up.

"Alright, time to go get a naked Conner out of jail," Trini told the group, as the teenagers reemerged from the elevator, all very confused on how the older rangers had gotten Aisha out of the bathroom, but figuring they could bring that up later.

"I vote Jason and Rocky bail him out," Aisha suggested.

"Why us?" Jason answered.

"He's one of you. After all, don't red's have to stick together?" Trini agreed.

"No fair," Rocky protested. "Why don't we just give the bail money to the kids, he's their teammate.

"I don't want to see Conner naked!" Kira hissed.

"I second that," Ethan put in.

"I don't want to see him naked either, nor do I want my girlfriend to see him naked," Trent agreed.

"And what makes you think we do?" Jason challenged him.

"All in favor of making Jason and Rocky bail Conner out, raise your hand!" Aisha announced, thrusting her hand up into the air. Not surprisingly, Trini, Ethan, Kira, and Trent followed the pattern. "All opposed?" Jason and Rocky raised their hands triumphantly, thinking that with Zack, Billy, and Adam's votes, they'd have a tie. Unfortunately none of them raised their hands. Jason looked at Zack who shrugged.

"What? They scare me. So I'm a coward!" he stated. "I'm afraid of yellows. Who isn't?"

"Billy? Adam?" Rocky asked.

"Sorry guys; the only thing worse than being the boyfriend of a yellow is being the best friend. We don't get the chance of makeup sex," Adam told Rocky. Billy just nodded agreement.

"We abstain," Billy stated. Adam and Zack nodded.

"Which means we win," Trini said grinning, and leading the way out.

"Someone should have warned the kids of about angering former red rangers," Rocky muttered to Jason.

"Yeah, but we can't touch Kira. She's a yellow too; she might not cause too much trouble on her own, but she'll tell Aisha and Trini." Jason agreed, as they followed the rest of the group out.

"Right. We have to be sneaky."

Aisha lead the way with Trini and stopped at the counter where the man Rocky had spoken with earlier stood astonished by the easy escape Aisha, the old woman, and the girl had made from the bathroom. "You might need to get a new lock," she said as she and her friends walked out into the parking lot, off to rescue Conner, followed by an afternoon of rock climbing.

"Can we get food after we save Conner?" Zack asked as they piled into the cars.

* * *

Conner wanted to be pacing up and down impatiently for his teammates to come and rescue him. He wanted to, but every time he stood up, some of the other criminals in neighboring cells would stare. He'd been lucky enough to get his own cell, but he'd over heard the officers saying that it was for his own protection. He really didn't want to know what they were protecting him from.

Now, he sat quite patiently, and very cold, on a bench inside the holding cell, hands in his lap to hide his bare genitals, looking up every once and a while to meet the lusty eyes of some very sick minded men. He was a teenager, a child for crying out loud and they were looking at him like he was a piece of meat waiting to go to the highest bidder.

"McKnight?" An officer's voice said from the door. The teen looked over his shoulder, glad to see Jason and Rocky at the door; but even happier to see the pile of clothing Jason carried in his hands. "Over there," the officer directed the two men towards the cell. Conner, completely thrilled to see his rescuers and the items with them, forgot himself and stood to run over to the bars.

"WOW!" Rocky shouted, as he and Jason covered their eyes and turned away. "Conner, either sit back down or cover up. No one wants to see you naked," he told the teenager. Conner blushed, and placed his hands in front of him.

"Maybe you don't but I'm not so sure about them," Conner replied, jerking his head towards the men in the other holding cell who were staring at him even more, probably thrilled by the great view of his ass.

"You know him?" the officer asked Jason and Rocky. Both men nodded.

"Unfortunately," Jason threw in. "Can we give him the clothes now?"

"As soon as he's made bail," the officer answered. Rocky immediately handed him a $50 bill, and the officer unlocked the bars. Conner snatched the clothing from Jason and began pulling the piece on.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you guys. I'd thought you'd all forgotten about me," He was talking a mile a minute, although not nearly as quickly as Ethan had that morning. "Its been absolute hell in there."

"Just be glad it wasn't Tommy bailing your butt out of there. You would have waited longer," Jason told him once the teen was dressed, leading the way out to the car. "You're riding with Zack," Jason told him, as then left the station. Conner nodded, and then frowned to see each and every one of his teammates, save Tommy, staring at him with looks of amusement and astonishment. Rocky and Jason made their way back over to Jason's car where Trini, Aisha, and Billy waited for them.

"Conner, I knew you'd get arrested one day, but I never though you'd be naked," Kira told him from the front seat as Conner slid uncomfortably into the back seat with Ethan and Trent.

"Yeah, dude, how on earth did you accomplish that?" Ethan said laughing. Trent just smiled at him.

"Guys, never ever take a shower at a homeless shelter," was all Conner said on the subject, turning his back to his friends and crossing his arms over his chest. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Does it matter? You have clothes now," Kira informed him, giggling. "And what happened to Natalie?"

"I hope she got his by a bus," Conner replied. "And of course it matters. Where's Dr. O?"

"Tommy and Kimberly are still missing," Zack told him. "And we're on our way to lunch then we're going to Stone Canyon to this rock climbing place Trini wants to visit."

"How far's the drive?" Trent asked.

"Only an hour or so. That way Kimberly and Tommy don't find out we're not really searching for them."

"Why aren't we searching for them?"

"Give them some alone time. Time to rekindle the old flame," Zack answered, following Jason through a Wendy's drive through. "What do you guys want?"

The four teens gave him their order, which he wrote down on an old burger king napkin with the use of a crayon, before repeating it into the machine, and finally enjoying the ride in peace. Hopefully, the rest of the day would go just as smoothly, but Zack wasn't putting any bets on it.

* * *

Kimberly and Tommy had spent the rest of the morning wandering around the hospital. They'd been outside, they'd been to some of the lounges, heck Kimberly had even dragged Tommy to the maternity ward to look at the babies in the nursery. He had to admit, they were cute, but seeing the babies just brought back memories of the time he and Kat had babysat: which he was positive was all Kat's fault. They were on their way back when Tommy heard a high pitched whistle. He turned around, only to see an older woman with a cane sitting on a bench smiling at him. He turned back around with a strange look on his face.

"I think that woman just checked out my butt," he whispered to Kimberly, who looked back at the woman and then laughed.

"She has good taste," Kimberly commented.

"Oh, you think so? Well, maybe I should go out with her," Tommy joked. "At least she appreciates me."

"Nah, she's not your type," Kim laughed.

"And what is my type?"

"Someone younger, likes to wear pink," she laughed. "Come on, lets go sit by the lake. Get some fresh air. I want to know more about your job as a science teacher."

Tommy nodded, and opened the door for her. Together they walked until they were seated on the lawn beside the lake, Tommy doing his best to keep the wind from riding up the back of his hospital gown.

"So, science teacher?

"Well, I was when I could actually get to work. What with saving the world every afternoon, evening, morning," Tommy told her. "But it was nice. I mean, I'm definitely going to go back and teach again in the fall. Hopefully, this time I won't have to be morphing every five minutes."

"What was it like?" Kimberly asked, pulling her knees up.

"What was what like?"

"Morphing again. Fighting evil again. I miss it," Kimberly told him.

"It was, interesting. Especially with teammates so much younger than me. But I'd rather just be me, normal, you know?"

"I think so," Kimberly answered, leaning backwards.

"Hey! TOMMY!" Kimberly frowned into the distance, shielding her eyes from the sun to see a woman walking towards them pushing a man in a wheel chair. She tapped Tommy on the arm, directing his attention towards them.

"Who's that?"

"Oh god; ok, time to test out our plan," Tommy said, with a grin. "They're former rangers, but I don't think either knows who you are; not unless Jason's opened his big mouth about you."

"So what's the plan?" Kimberly asked, nodding.

"You're my girlfriend. Not a ranger," he told her, causing her to laugh, but she nodded. "Hey, Andros! Ashley," he called, waving to the two of them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing," Andros answered. "Although its clear you're here for the celebration," he said, nodding toward Kimberly and not mentioning power rangers. "You've come to show your support?" To which Tommy nodded.

"I think he meant what are we doing in the hospital," Ashley told Andros smiling.

"Yeah well," Andros mutted, causing Tommy and Ashley to laugh at him.

"Appendicitis," Ashley told Tommy. "We decided to come for the celebration, and poor Andros here ended up having to get an appendectomy."

"Wow, that sucks," Tommy told the red space ranger. "The other's in town?"

"Cassie said something about coming by. Not sure about T.J. though. And we saw Justin at the youth center the other day. He looks good," Ashley told him.

"Yeah, we saw him too," Tommy replied.

"So he said," Andros informed him, trying to hide a smile. "Total disaster?"

"Not completely," Tommy answered. "What about Zhane?"

"Couldn't make it," Andros said. "So, what exactly are you doing all dressed up?"

"He got punched in the face," Kimberly said happily, smiling and extending her hand out to Ashley. "Hi, I'm Kim," she added, casting a look at Tommy.

"Oh, sorry. Andros, Ashley, this is Kimberly, my girlfriend." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Really?" Ashley said smiling. "It's really nice to meet you, Kim."

"Nice too finally meet you both," Kim replied smiling. Andros and Ashley frowned, and looked at Tommy. He instantly took the hint.

"She knows," Tommy replied. Ashley took a breath.

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to tip toe around the subject. So Tommy got punched in the face? How'd he accomplish that?"

"Not sure," Kimberly laughed. "He's supposed to be this great Power Ranger, and yet he gets himself punched in the face by an angry drunk."

"He was never that great," Andros added and Tommy hit him. "Hey! No hitting guys in wheel chairs," he argued. Tommy just rolled his eyes.

Together, the four of them spent a few hours talking, sharing jokes, while Kimberly and Tommy made up stories about how they met, etc. Two hours later, they were laughing at a joke, and Tommy leaned over and kissed Kim on the cheek. She looked at him in surprise for a moment, then remember Ashley and Andros and immediately whipped the look off her face.

"Oh stop it," Andros laughed. "I can't take lying anymore."

"Andros? What are you taking about?" Tommy asked him, still cuddling with Kim.

"You. You and your "girlfriend"," Andros laughed again. "I don't know exactly what's going on between you two, but you didn't meet three years ago. This would be Kimberly Hart, the pan globalist gymnast, and former first pink ranger."

"What?" Ashley stated. Tommy sighed and took his arm off Kim.

"Hey, I was comfortable," she said, pushing him. "Ok, ok, you're right. Jason?"

"AKA, the loud mouthed red ranger," Tommy added.

"Yeah. He told us after that mission to the moon a few years ago," Andros laughed. "So what exactly was the purpose of the lie?"

"Ashley, did you think Kim was really my girlfriend? And Andros, lie aside, did it look like we were in a relationship?"

"Yes," both answered, looking unsure.

"That was the purpose," Kimberly added. "Our friends want us back together so badly that they've even stranded us out in the desert with only the Power Chamber for shelter."

"So you're going to fake it?" Ashley asked them.

"We're going to try," Tommy said. "You won't say anything?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Andros said. "I want to see where this goes. But we should really get going. I'm not sure the doctors want me out of bed this long."

"His surgery was this morning," Ashley explained. The sun was setting and dinner time was nearing. "Plus, I'm hungry."

"So am I," Kimberly said. "Come on Tommy, let's go see if the doctor's will discharge you." She stood and reached down to help him up, which he ignored. "Hey!"

"I'm already exposing my boxers to the world, you want me to let a girl help me up?"

"I may be a girl but I can still beat you up," she retorted, knowing he was joking.

"Only because you still have some power running through you," he answered, laughing.

"Come on, you haven't been that embarrassed," Kim laughed.

"True. I could have been sitting naked in jail like Conner," he agreed as the four of them walked back up towards the hospital. He wanted to put his clothes back on.

* * *

Ok, ok. Three updates in four days. I think I've just broken every record I've ever had. I really hope you're all enjoying. Updates are going to slow down a bit now though cause spring break is officially over and I have to go back to being a college student (although I really want to be an eight year old with a college student's vocabulary). I'll try to have another update sometime this week.

Fateless Wanderer


	21. Revenge is Sweet

I am so sorry about the wait. Once we got back from spring break, the professors attacked us with countless projects and papers. I've been so busy. Then exams started. I still have two more, but I felt like a really owed you guys something, and considering I spent last night discussing the story with my friends at school at a party, and how proud I was that I have such great reviewers, I really knew I needed to get something out to you all. Anyway, the next three chapters after this one are completely outlined and are ready to be pieced together, so I'm going to attempt to get them all to you by next Sunday because I leave next Monday for 10 days in Scotland. Ok, so rambling aside, onto the story…

* * *

By the time they all reached the city limit of Stone Canyon, the four teenagers in Zack's car were sound asleep from all of the excitement, and well, chaos of the morning. Zack was actually enjoying the quite, and was actually singing along to one of the CDs the teens had found in his car from when he was in high school. Granted, then it had been a cassette tape. The music was actually some of the stuff he used to listen too after a particularly grueling battle to calm himself back down; and he usually listened to it alone.

The track he was on came to a very enjoyable drum solo, just as his cell phone added it's own rhythm to the noise. Sighing, he reached into the cup holder and pulled it to his ear, hitting the send button at the same time.

"Hello?"

"Help!" Billy's voice came over the handset. Zack just laughed, listening to the noise in the background of Jason's SUV. It sounded like some type of argument was going on, and Billy had somehow gotten caught up in it.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Jason made some comment about super models being hot, and Rocky agreed, which sent Trini and Aisha into a rant about how men were sexist pigs. And then somehow men got translated into male power rangers, and then got Adam and I incorporated into the yelling. Adam tried to argue back, but it some how seemed to make them angry, and now Trini and Aisha are trying to find ways to kill us all in our sleep, or maybe just kill us."

"Billy! Hang up the damn phone!" Trini's voice yelled in the distance. Zack winced at the sound of a car screeching.

"Trini, keep your eyes on the road! Do you want to kill us all?" That was Jason; and automatically Billy was forgotten as the first yellow power ranger began yelling at her husband.

"Hang in there Billy. We're almost there." Zack told his former teammate.

"Almost where?" Conner happened to wake up, and actually aroused all three of his teammates with his question. Zack rolled his eyes, hoping they were old enough to be well passed the "are we there yet" stage of life.

"Stone Canyon Sports Center," Zack replied, having earlier explained about the Rock wall climbing being some of the best there. Conner just nodded and sank back into the seat, staring out the window. He'd been very quiet, not to mention, well behaved since his little run in with the law.

"I know," Billy replied over the phone. "I just wanted to let you know what was happening just in case you need to file a police report later."

"I can see the head lines: Former Black, Red, and Blue Power Rangers Killed in Automobile Accident by Two of Their Own," Zack replied in an announcer type voice.

"You are so not funny," Billy replied. "Oh! I can see the parking lot! Hallelujah!"

"Billy, didn't I tell you to get off the damn phone. Don't make me shove it down your throat!"

"Gotta go."

"See you in a minute," Zack laughed, hanging up his cell phone.

"Why are Trini and Aisha going to kill them all now?" Kira asked, leaning forward as Zack followed the SUV into the parking lot.

"I have no idea," Zack retorted, pulling the car into a spot and watching as Billy and Adam jumped out of the still moving vehicle in their rush to get away from the disgruntled Aisha and Trini. Jason and Rocky remained in the car, still arguing with their respective women.

"Now what are they arguing about?" Trent asked Adam as the five of them met up with the two escaped rangers. Adam shrugged as Aisha grabbed Rocky as they climbed out of the car, pulled her towards him and suddenly kissed him.

"Apparently nothing," Billy laughed, but continued to watch as Trini slammed the door shut, and marched around to continue yelling at Jason. "Although, Trini seems really upset. What happened after we jumped out?" he asked Aisha when she and Rocky finally joined them.

"Couldn't really say. But this isn't going to end well," Aisha answered. And she was absolutely right. For the first time in a very long time, tears had welled up in Trini's eyes. She was tugging at something on her hand, while Jason looked horrified. The others finally realized it was her wedding ring as she pulled it off, and tossed it at her husband.

"If that's the way you feel, maybe I don't want to be your wife anymore!" she screamed, loud enough for the entire crowd to hear and then stormed off into the building. Aisha kissed Rocky, grabbed Kira's hand and ran off after her. Billy looked at his friends, and went to follow, knowing just how hard it would be to calm Trini down.

Jason stooped and picked up the ring which now had gravel dust all over it. He brushed it off and then leaned against the bumper of the car, as his friends came to join him, Trent, Ethan, and Conner, listening slightly, but not paying full attention, figuring it would be safer to stay out of this one.

"What the hell just happened?" Rocky asked him, as Jason leaned his head back and shut his eyes, clearly upset.

"Man, you just screwed up worst than Tommy has," Zack added. Jason just sighed.

"I know."

"Then why?" this time it was Adam.

"Long story. Lets just say, I need to remember that I don't need to impress her anymore."

"Well, duh!" Zack told him, slinging his arm around Jason. "Bro, you impressed her in high school, you impressed her at the peace conference. You impressed her enough that she married your sorry ass. Why can't you see that you don't need to impress her. She's already yours…"

"I don't know. In high school I was a power ranger, but so were all of you. When we went to the peace conference, Zack was still there to impress her. Before we got married, there was an entire construction crew working on the dojo, for her to fall in love with. And now…"

"Now we're all together again, and you're feeling threatened," Adam asked him. Jason just nodded.

"I mean, I know I've got nothing to worry about because she loves me, and I love her, but it's really hard to convince myself of that when comparatively, I don't feel all that special around everyone."

"Jase, come on. Think about. I've got Aisha, Adam's lusting over Tanya," Rocky started, only to be hit in the gut by Adam.

"And I've got my music. Tommy's out wooing Kimberly as we speak," Zack finished for him.

"But there's Billy."

"And we now know that Billy's married with a wife and kids! We don't know what happened, but you've got nothing to worry about," Adam told him. Jason sighed again.

"I really screwed up big time guys. She threw her ring at me!"

"And we're going to make sure you get to put it right back on her finger," Zack told him.

"And how are we going to do that?"

"You're going to impress her by being the most sentimental guy in the world," Rocky told him. "Now start the water works!"

"There is no way I'm going to cry!" Jason yelled, images of the head construction worker for his dojo popping back into his head, causing him to shudder a little.

"You are if you want Trini back," Rocky retorted. "And we have ways of making you cry."

"I am not going to cry, Rocky!" Jason exclaimed again, as Rocky landed a punch in his gut. Unfortunately for Rocky, he hadn't quite achieved his intended purpose; instead Jason launched himself at his successor, pinning him to the ground and began punching him in the face until Zack and Adam with the aid of Conner, Trent, and Ethan, pulled them apart.

"So we're not the only ones who start beating each other up for stupid reasons," Conner said, helping Zack cling to Jason's arms as the larger man attempted to get back to being the shit out of Rocky.

The second red ranger was staring at the angry, shocked at what had happened, wincing as Adam examined his blackening eyes. "Wonderful," Adam muttered. "Aisha's going to kick your ass," he told his friend, who shrugged.

"I didn't tell Jason to do that," Rocky retorted. Jason had now been dragged back to the car, still fuming and muttering that the next time anyone tried anything on him, he'd make sure that they were the ones who ended up crying, which was really beginning to confuse Zack.

Once they'd finally gotten Jason calmed down, and Rocky understanding that yes, it was his fault, Zack and Adam took control of the situation.

"Ok, so here's the deal for the rest of the vacation. We're Power Rangers, and we're going to act that way," Zack started.

"This means all of us," Adam put in. "NO MORE FIGHTING!"

Conner raised his hand. "What if a monster attacks at the celebration?"

"No more fighting each other," Zack amended, glaring at the teenager. "We won't tell Aisha and Trini what happened out here, as long as everyone promises that their fists do not come into contact with one another again.

"Fine," Rocky agreed.

"Good with me," Conner added. Ethan and Trent both nodded agreement. They'd already promised Tommy that they wouldn't start pounding on each other, so it wasn't to hard to promise Zack and Adam the same thing.

"Whatever," Jason muttered. They knew they weren't going to get much more out of him, but they accepted it. Zack just promised himself, he'd let Tommy know and leave it to the former ranger leader to fix his friends attitude.

"Now, lets work as a team to help get Trini to take Jason back," Adam suggested, and before Rocky could open his mouth he shook his head. "And it will not involve Jason crying."

* * *

"I thought we were going to find dinner?" Tommy pleaded with Kimberly who sat beside them. She only laughed in response as the two of them pulled the car into the back lot of the hotel. They'd taken a taxi from the hospital to Jason and Trini's house to get Tommy's jeep, which Kimberly claimed she'd enjoyed driving to the youth center, and persuaded him to let her drive once again. Although now that she was still denying him dinner, he was regretting it.

"We are, but it's only five o'clock," she finally replied, as they departed the vehicle and began to walk into the hotel side by side, her hand in his just in case their friends were around. Kim even leaned on him a bit, giving Tommy a rather warm feeling in his side. He attempted to lead the way over to the elevator, but Kimberly tugged his arm in the direction of the hotel's formal dinning room: The Flamingo. "Do you have any reservations available?" she asked the hostess at the entrance. The woman nodded and told them that they had a cancellation for five thirty. Tommy nodded and gave the woman his name, promising that they'd be back in a half hour.

"So now what?" Tommy asked Kim, as they walked away from the counter. She giggled and let go of his hand and stepped into the elevator.

"We go get ready for dinner. If I'm going to be your girlfriend, I demand to go on a respectable date." Before he could react and follow her, she pressed the door closed button, leaving a very confused former ranger, stranded in the lobby.

Blinking several times about what Kimberly had done to trick him, Tommy finally shook his head and smiled, before pulling out his cell phone, and then starting to climb the stairs while dialing.

"Hello?"

"Good to see you're out of jail," Tommy replied to the very embarrassed Conner.

"Sorry about that," the teenager replied. Tommy could almost see him blushing bright red. "Do you need an explanation?"

"I'd like to know a little if you don't mind," his mentor replied, still in a good mood, which Conner was considering very lucky for him at that moment. The teenager told him to hold on a minute, then Tommy heard the noise in the background diminish until it was non-existent.

"Where are you anyway?" Tommy asked.

"Stone Canyon."

"Why would Jason and the others be looking for us in Stone Canyon," Tommy questioned him again. Conner paused and Tommy could tell he was thinking up some lie. "Spill it Conner."

"Jason and Trini figured it'd be the safest place to go so that you wouldn't find out we weren't looking for you. We're at the sports center," he elaborated. Tommy just laughed as he reached the landing for his floor and proceeded to his room to get ready.

"So tell me, how did you end up in jail naked, and is it going on your record?"

"Not going on my record, thank god. Once Jason and Rocky bailed me out I was able to explain what had happened to the cops. I got a stern lecture about not showering at homeless shelters anymore, but that's about it."

"You showered at a homeless shelter?"

"Yeah. So anyway, round midnight, Ethan, Trent, Kira, and I decided to go looking for you. We got directions to the desert, then split up. I got lost, Ethan managed to get back to the hotel, and Kira and Trent said they found the Power Chamber."

"Shit that was them?" Tommy questioned, looking very embarrassed. "How angry is Kira?"

"Ethan said she kicked Billy in the shins a few times when the adults rescued them, but I think she's pretty over it by now."

Tommy laughed. "I'll have to make it up to her, somehow. Go on."

"Anyway, I spent the night on a park bench, woke up smell, decided to take a shower at a homeless shelter, got my clothes stole, and then the towel I'd taken with me snatched by some dog while I talked to Kira. When I went to get it back, I ran straight into a police officer."

"You're lucky you were able to reach Kimberly."

"I know. So, how much trouble am I in?"

"Lets just say I think you've suffered enough on this one. And I should have known you and the others would get worried, so I could have tried calling you to tell you we were ok."

"So I'm off the hook?" Conner asked, hopefully.

"Not quite. I need you to do me a favor."

"Ok…"

"Now listen carefully," Tommy began, and then explained to Conner exactly what he wanted the teenager to do, while changing for dinner with Kimberly.

* * *

Once inside the sports complex, the guys hadn't needed a lot of time to find Kira, Aisha, Billy and Trini. The later kept trying to avoid Jason, until both Aisha and Billy dragged her over and made her sit and talk to him – in the men's room unfortunately. The rest of them stood guard, scaring off anyone who tried to enter and disrupt the conversation taking place inside, while the four teenagers, wandered aimlessly around the area.

Over an hour later, Jason and Trini finally left the bathroom, only to have their friends joke about what had gone on inside that took so long. Billy joked that they were probably having make up sex, to which everyone else turned green, and Jason had only smiled and said he wished.

"Later," Trini had told him, seductively, kissing his lips. "But we talked. I think I understand a bit better now," she added.

"Understand what?" Rocky asked, confused.

"None of your business, ape boy," Jason retorted, giving Rocky a look that said he'd kill him if he tried that question again. Rocky just nodded, not wanting to end up in another fist fight with Jason or any of his other teammates. He kind of wished they could go back to a time when they'd all been so close that none of them would even consider hurting the others. But times had definitely changed, and they were all a bit more angry at the world than they had been. It only took a small flame to light a fuse that could set any of them off, especially the guys.

"I'm thinking we may need another sparring match soon to get rid of all this tension," Trini laughed, when she saw the looks Rocky and Jason were sharing. She and Aisha could guess what had taken place outside in the parking lot, based on how filthy the two former red rangers were, and how bruised they were, despite the fact that Zack claimed some old lady had smacked into them with her car.

"I'll second that," Zack agreed as they collected the teenagers, and selected two wall courses that would be challenging enough to them, Kira and Billy agreeing to go first.

They'd spent the remainder of the afternoon and early evening taking turns going up and down the wall, until Conner's cell phone rang. He'd glanced down at the caller ID and groaned.

"Who is it?" Ethan asked.

"Dr. O," Conner replied.

"Ouch," was Zack's addition to the conversation.

"Don't tell him where we are," Jason warned him from halfway up the wall. Conner just waved at him and proceeded a bit away from the group, before answering.

Jason reached the top of the wall only a moment before Billy. They'd gotten bored with just climbing, then had done time trials, and now were racing one another to see who could get to the top first. "Ha! I win!"

"Jason, that's the fourth time you've beaten Billy. When are you going to get it? You can't lose to him," Aisha called up.

"I know! But it's fun."

"Fun for you, maybe." Billy told him as they both released the wall, and Zack and Trini slacked on the ropes enough to let them glide down to the ground again. The two removed the ropes from their belts and handed them off to Kira and Ethan, who took the next turn, while Trent and Adam manned the ropes for them.

Jason plopped down on a bench, with Trini on top of his lap. "When's your turn?" he asked her, as Rocky and Aisha came over to join them.

"Aisha and I are going next," Trini told him in response. Jason just nodded.

"That should be interesting," Rocky put in.

"What do you mean?" Aisha asked him.

"Yellow versus Yellow. This time without our help," Rocky answered.

"Rocky, you're going to get yourself killed," Jason warned, having already been down this dangerous road and nearly destroying his marriage with it.

"No, let him continue," Aisha told Jason, before turning back to her fiancé. "So who are you saying will win."

"Trini," Rocky replied, smiling. "Zack told me how fast she climbed a rope when he'd scared her as a teenager. Said she did it again, just the other day at the youth center." Trini just hit him.

"So you have that little faith in me?"

"Rocky DANGER!" Jason warned again, only to be ignored. Rocky just continued to grin at Aisha.

"Fine, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" Aisha told him.

"Ok, what's the wager?"

"If I win, we're Honeymooning in Hawaii," Aisha told him.

"And if Trini wins?" Aisha just shrugged in response to his question. "If Trini wins, we get married next month, right after the celebration and then I'll take you to Hawaii."

Aisha just paused and looked at him. She smiled huge, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Really?" she asked. Rocky nodded, while Trini and Jason looked extremely confused. Aisha kissed Rocky and ran off to go tell Adam.

"What just happened?" Jason asked him.

"Aisha's been bugging me to help her set a date for the wedding. It's been my idea to have a long engagement."

"So basically you're saying that if I beat her, you're going to marry her next month and then take her to Hawaii?"

"Basically," Rocky agreed.

"And if she wins?" Jason asked, although now he doubted she would be trying all that hard.

"I'll still marry her in a month and take her to Hawaii. It's time," he told them, casting a look at Aisha and Adam, the former was talking in a very excited voice at a rate close to light speed. Her friend was just smiling and congratulating her. "Now, we just have to convince Frog boy to propose to Tanya."

"He's that serious about her?" Trini asked. Rocky once again nodded.

"Is that why he's been so pouty all week?" Jason questioned.

"Yep. But don't worry. He'll get over it soon," Rocky informed them, but didn't say anymore about the topic. Conner had returned from outside, and Kira had beaten Ethan, so Aisha was already getting into position as Trini came up beside her and began the same.

The four teenagers walked over to the wall and the adults moved on to encourage Aisha and Trini on. "So, what did Dr. O say?" Trent asked once the four were alone. Conner just sighed.

"You in that much trouble?" Ethan asked him.

"Not really. I just have to do something I know I'm going to regret, for him."

"Which is?" Kira asked.

"I can't say. Trust me, you do not want to be involved in this," Conner retorted, him groaning. "Why me!"

"Um… ok then. We'll just be over there, if you need us," Trent told him.

"Right. And guys, if I don't come back to Reefside alive, tell my parents I loved them," he responded and walked in the other direction, behind the rock walls, leaving his teammates very confused.

Once alone, Conner began to search for the thousand pound led weights that Tommy had told him about. His science teacher had claimed to have found them when he, Billy, Adam, and Rocky had taken a trip out to the very same sports complex. The weights hall had several thick ropes attached which were also joined to the rock walls to keep them standing up. In total, there were about 20 of them, each with countless numbers of ropes all which were intertwined and tangled together. Hanging above them or on the ground beside them were pully ropes that all disappeared over the walls, with five pound weights attached. The ones that were on the floor meant that no one was using them on the otherside. The ones that hung meant that someone was climbing the wall. Conner quickly sought out the one that would be connected to Trini in a moment. He quickly wound the rope in and out of the other ropes that were connected to the nearest thousand pound weight, so complexly that it would take hours to figure out how to get it loose. Then he secured it to the weight, just as he heard Jason clip Trini into the harness.

A nano second later the entire complex heard Trini scream at the top of her lungs, as she was sent hurtling 7 stories off the ground towards the padded ceiling of the complex, her own body weight no where near a match for the thousands pounds she was now attached to on the other side. Wincing, Conner slipped out and back to his friends, before the adults could even tell that he'd gone missing. Trent, Kira, and Ethan stared at him, as the adults began to try and figure out how to get Trini down, while the former yellow ranger started turning white. She'd thought she'd overcome her fear of heights years ago, but then again, she'd been thrust up into the air and forced to hang 7 stories off the ground, dangling from a rope.

* * *

Twenty five minutes after they'd returned to the hotel, Kimberly had finally joined Tommy down in the lobby wearing the same pink sundress she'd been wearing the first night they'd been in Angel Grove. Tommy was wearing a pair of khaki pants, and while he'd been tempted to thrown on a red polo, he'd decided against it and grabbed a white one instead. Together, they'd gone to the restaurant and had been seated at a small table right beside a window that overlooked the hotel's gardens.

"So what'd you do while I was gone?" Kimberly finally asked, after their food had been brought. Before then, conversation had been really minimum and unimportant, mainly consisting of compliments to each other and on the restaurant.

"I called Conner," Tommy answered simply.

"Really? How'd that one go over?"

"Not bad actually. I let him off the hook because it was just too funny."

"So what really happened?" Kimberly asked.

"Oh, the kids got worried about us last night and decided to try and find us in the desert. Ethan's the only one who made it back to the Hotel."

"Really? What about the other three?"

"Conner got lost and spent the night on a park bench, and well, remember the intruders at the Power Chamber?" Tommy explained.

"Oh no! Kira and Trent? I feel so horrible."

"Don't worry. Kira already took it out on Billy, since it was his invention. Anyway Conner tried to shower at a homeless shelter, got his clothing stolen, and ran naked into a cop after a dog stole his towel."

"Oh my," Kimberly laughed. "We were right. The world does fall apart when we're not around." Tommy just nodded as the two continued to eat, genuinely enjoying one another's company. It was nice to be able to talk and not feel pressured by their friends to get back together, or start making out while they watched. And Tommy was currently very happy that the Dino Thunder Rangers were currently Jason and Trini's problem. Especially with what he'd asked Conner to do. "So you let him off the hook because he had to sit naked in jail?"

"Pretty much," Tommy told her. "But I did ask him to do a little something first."

"What?"

"Well, right about now, Trini should be dangling about 70 feet off the ground, suspended by a rope with no way of getting down. At least not for a while."

"What?" Kimberly laughed. "How on earth did you manage that?"

"They decided to make us think they were out looking for us when they really weren't by leaving Angel Grove. They're all at the Stone Canyon Sports Complex, rock climbing. So I just figured it'd be justice."

"You're perfectly right," Kimberly agreed, raising her glass. "A toast, to the amazing, flying yellow ranger. May she only get down once she regrets stranding her former teammates out in the desert."

"Too Trini. May she regret the day she messed with the most powerful ranger _couple_," Tommy laughed, intentionally referring to himself and Kimberly as a couple. They both took drinks from their wine glasses, thinking about Trini suspended high above the ground.

Together, they spent the rest of dinner talking about their pasted. Kimberly explained that after she'd gone back to Florida again, after nearly killing him that one time while under a spell, she'd tried to purge her memory of her entire past. She felt so horrible about what she'd done and while she still loved Kat as a dear friend, she'd been sickened at the thought of her with Tommy.

"I think it was more the idea that she really had taken my place. Not just on the team, but in my entire life, when I saw how you were with her. That's pretty much why I can't stand you in red. It brings up those feelings again."

"Understandable," he laughed.

She'd told him that it actually took a visit from Jason to snap her out of her depression and convince her that she didn't really want to put her past as a power ranger behind her. She'd finally agreed he was right, but was always too scared to call Tommy, fearing that he'd ended up married to Kat, her replacement on the team.

Tommy'd laughed at that one. He'd completely similar reasons for not calling Kim. They hadn't really talked because of the karate tournament going on when they'd finally broken the spell over Kimberly and Jason. He'd let her leave without saying much to her about what had happened, and after he and Kat had split up, he'd wanted to call, but was too afraid that Kim had married the guy from her letter and when Jason finally figured it out, and told him she hadn't, it'd been too late. Years had gone by, and Tommy just felt way too weird.

"So tell me about your career? I have to know," Tommy told her as he paid the bill and they started on the way out of the restaurant.

"Ok, but only if you tell me how you stood being Conner's science teacher. Did he learn anything?"

"Oh, he learned plenty last year, but none of it was science," Tommy told her as they got into the elevator. He held the door open for her and bowed her inside, causing her to giggle, as he climbed on board with her. "Lets go to my room and talk for a while. I'm sure they other's won't miss us."

"You just want to hide from Trini," Kimberly accused him.

"Well, duh. I may have gotten my revenge on her, but I'm not dumb enough to make an appearance while it's fresh on her mind."

"You think she'll figure out it was you?"

"Either that or we'll be scraping Conner of the side walk," Tommy told her. "She's not going to believe it was a coincidence and she'll go snooping until she finds out."

"What'd you tell Conner to do?" Kimberly asked when the elevator finally reached their floor. She hesitated, considering just saying goodnight and heading back to her hotel room to wait for Kira, but an accidental pleading look in Tommy's eyes convinced her that he really did want to be with her. Maybe this wasn't all pretend. She turned down the hall toward his room and leaned against the wall while he unlocked the door.

"Gave him permission to rat on me if she tries to kill him. I'm sure I'd fare better against her than he would, and besides, he went through enough today, which was also slightly my fault. I owe him for once."

"For once? You really do like those kids around, don't you."

"Of course I do," Tommy told her. "Just don't tell them that."

"My lips are sealed," she told him, pulling him into the room after her. "Now spill it, tell me everything."

* * *

"Trini, just hang in there a little longer," Jason called up to his wife. "They're bringing in a cherry picker."

"Hurry Jase. I think I'm going to be sick," Trini called back, completely freaked out by this point. Jason had a feeling she'd already passed out once or twice in the two hours she'd been stranded up there. He'd also noticed that Conner had looked ill and been avoiding the group like the plague since Trini had begun her ordeal. His teammates also looked a little on edge, and he had a feeling they all knew something about Trini's ropes mysteriously getting attached and taggled up in the ropes connected to one of the lead weights.

"Hey Billy, do me a favor?" he called to his friend who was standing off to the side, monitoring Trini and trying to keep her from panicking. He handed the job over to Zack, and stepped over to Jason. "I think the kids know something. See what you can find out while I help get Trini down?"

"Sure thing," Billy replied and watched as Jason ran over to the two employees who'd left a hour ago and had just returned with a cherry picker. The former red ranger climbed into the basket with one of the employees, while the second manned the controls on the machine.

Billy wandered over to the teenagers who were watching everything. "How's Trini?" Kira asked him when he reached them. Conner instantly looked away as the blue ranger shrugged.

"She's hanging in there. This so isn't helping her fear of heights."

"I thought she'd overcome that?" Kira asked. She'd been told a bit about Trini's past experience that one night while talking to Kimberly and the former yellow ranger. Granted, there had been alcohol involved, so it was possible that it could have been an exaggeration.

"Mostly. She still doesn't like them. By the way, any idea how she might have gotten up there in the first place?" Billy asked. Jason and the cherry picker had just reached Trini after struggling to get the angle right. As soon as he reached her, Trini grabbed hold of him and buried her head in his shoulder, shaking slightly. Trent, Ethan, and Kira looked away, or well, towards Conner. The former red teen instantly broke down.

"It was me! But I didn't have a choice. He said he'd knew plenty of places to get floss if I didn't do it. Please don't tell Trini! I don't want to die. Please Please! I'll do anything. Just don't let her kill me."

"Don't let who kill you?" Adam asked as he, Zack, Rocky, and Aisha came up to join Billy and the teenagers.

"Trini," Billy told them, still taking in what had been said.

"Why would Trini kill Conner?" this time it was Jason who asked. Trini was nearly unconscious in his arms by this point. They'd reached the ground, and she'd finally stopped shaking. She was listening to the conversation, and was wondering herself why she should kill the teenager, but at the moment she didn't have the energy.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Conner just said over and over, trying to hide himself behind his teammates. "It was all his fault."

"Apparently, Conner rigged the ropes so that she'd get stuck up there," Billy said pointing to the ceiling.

"He did what?" Zack asked, dumb founded. "Ok, man, I know you fear Tommy, but any wise ranger will tell you that yellows are much much more dangerous."

"I'm going to kill him!" Trini managed to say, finally letting go of her husband.

"Eep," Conner squealed and dove behind Trent and Ethan, and ducking as low as he possibly could.

Suddenly Trini burst out laughing. Her friends looked at her like she'd lost it as Jason helped her to sit down and began removing her harness. "Ok, so she was officially up there for way too long," Rocky stated.

"Trini, Honey, are you alright?"

Trini shook her head, still laughing. "Don't you see. This wasn't Conner's idea."

"It wasn't?" Adam asked her. Aisha sat down beside the hysterical woman and began to rub her back.

"No, it was Tommy. That conniving. Oh, wait until I get my hands on him."

"You mean this was revenge?" Aisha asked her. "And you're not mad?"

"Mad? No. He just did what he's programmed to do. He acted like a ranger out to defeat his enemies, and I'm pretty sure he and Kimberly think I'm their enemy at the moment. Oh god, he got me good."

"Trini are you sure you don't want to kill Tommy?" Zack asked her.

"Oh, I want to kill him. But I sort of deserved that. I shouldn't have stranded them out in the desert like that." She was still laughing as she said this. "Come on. Lets head back to the hotel. I'm both hungry and tired."

"Ok, if you're sure," Jason told her.

"Trini?" Conner asked cautiously.

"I'm not going to hurt you Conner. You just did what Tommy told you to do. I know what he'd do to you if you hadn't done as he said."

"Um… thanks."

"No problem," she said, jumping onto Jason's back. "Ok horsy. Too the cars!"

About an hour and a half later, they were all sitting in a secluded corner on the patio, by the pool, the pizza they'd picked up on the way home between all of them.

"Anyone up for a story?" Trini asked.

"Us!" Conner, Kira, Trent, and Ethan all raised their hands and encouraged it.

"Are you sure you're up for a story?" Jason asked his wife, concern in his face. After all, she'd spent two hours dangling from the ceiling of the sports complex.

"Yes, Jase. I'm sure I can handle telling a story. Besides, I'm in the mood to relive some memories."

"Ok, then," Billy spoke up. "How about that time with the Twin Man?"

"Or how about Billy tells us his story?" Jason asked hopefully.

"Twin Man," the four teenagers agreed. As much as they were curious about Billy's past, they'd really grown to like him, and considering he'd managed to trap Kira and Trent inside the Power Chamber all night, they didn't need to be on his bad side, and judging from the look he was giving Jason, they'd definitely be on his bad side if they chose what Jason wanted to talk about: granted only Ethan knew what that was. Jason's strength they could avoid. Billy's intelligence was another matter.

"I promise I'll tell you all tomorrow at breakfast," Billy promised.

"Even if Kimberly and Tommy aren't there?" Trini asked him.

"Even if they're not there," Billy told her.

"What are we missing here?" Rocky asked and Aisha nodded, confusion written on their faces.

"Billy didn't exactly tell us the truth about what he's been doing back on earth, or why," Adam told the two of them, who looked even more confused, and Billy just looked embarrassed. "Cestria and his children are still alive," Adam elaborated, causing Rocky and Aisha to look at Billy, more astounded that he could lie than anything else.

"Later. Now twin man," Trini instructed, taking the attention off Billy.

"Ok, who's this one about?" Trent asked, leaning in.

"Kimberly, myself, Jason, Zack, and Billy. Granted this is after Tommy lost his green ranger powers due to the green candle." Trini told him, making the teens grin. They really enjoyed hearing these stories.

"Ok, so Rita used a creature called Twin Man to turn five putties into identical copies of the five of us and needless to say, this caused some major problems. The first thing they did was fill a drinking fountain in the hall way with detergent. It wouldn't have been so bad, had the next person to use the fountain not been Mr. Kaplan, our principal," Jason told them. "It covered him and the hallway in foam. To matters worse, the five clones made sure they were seen, and apparently, Kimberly's had agreed to a date with Skull. But as soon as they were seen, they took off laughing, and that just happened to be the moment the five of us actually got out of class. Next thing we know, I'm shutting off the fountain and we've landed in detention."

"We were still oblivious as to why we were in detention with two people who couldn't even spell their own names correctly," Trini said, rolling her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Kira asked her.

"Bulk had written his name on one of the desks and told Jason to move. Turns out he spelt it "BUULK." Zack laughed.

"You're kidding?" This time it was Ethan's turn to stare.

"Nope. I can still picture it in black pencil. B-U-U-L-K. All capitals," Jason laughed. "This also happened to be when Skull asked Kim if they were still on for that night. I can still see the picture of disgust on her face."

"That's because she always had the same face. He had to have asked her out hundreds of times," Aisha told him.

"Wait, Aisha, is Kimberly who you were talking about when you told me you had a friend in high school who some creep wouldn't leave alone?" Trent asked her. Aisha just nodded.

"Ok, getting back to detention. Bulk takes out this huge, really nasty lunch and when Skull begs for some, he hands him the soda. Which Skull then sprays all over himself. Kimberly laughs, Skull chases her around the desks with the soda. She dodges, and sprays Bulk instead who throws a pie at him," Trini explained.

"And while all this is happening, our doppelgangers are somewhere else, causing more trouble. Bulk takes out a TV and starts watching a cartoon with Skull, and Billy decides to study them, for what reason I have no idea," Zack piped in.

"They were actually very interesting, if not stupid, subject matter," Billy told him, shaking his head laughing.

"But anyway, the cartoon was interrupted with a news report about what was going on down town. According to the reporter, the "power rangers" had left the side of good and were now helping evil," Jason told them. The teenagers, Adam, Aisha, and Rocky all looked him slightly confused. "Turns out our doppelgangers had morphed and gone downtown to begin attacking civilians."

"Oh god," Kira exclaimed.

"That can't lead to anything good," Conner agreed.

Jason shook his head. "It didn't. Hell, even Alpha and Zordon thought it was us. Although they didn't quite think we had chosen to do so. So anyway, we had to find a way to stop them, but being stuck in detention made that a little difficult. After all, we couldn't morph in front of Bulk and Skull."

"Kim tried to sneak out, but the principal brought her right back. So we played to our strengths; or rather Bulk and Skull's weakness," Trini laughed.

"Yeah, I convinced them I could use magic to make us disappear but they had to cover their eyes, plug their ears, and count backwards from 10. So we morphed and teleported away."

"Next came the confusing part. Ever tried battling monsters that look exactly like your teammates?" Billy asked them, smiling. Of course he knew the answer was no. "Anyway, we each took on our clones, which nearly got the girls killed. Kimberly managed to get her clone in a position where she had the clones arms locked. But the clone called to Trini for help. Trini accidentally attacked Kim, thinking she was the clone, then told the clone to stay behind her if she was hurt. As soon as Trini's back was turned, the clone tried to strangle her."

"I got lucky that Kim was such a good shot with her bow. She blasted the clone in the back and it turned back into a putty. Then to prove I was the real Trini, I threw my daggers at my own clone, shattering its disguise as well. Although Billy didn't seem to have as much trouble as we did. He got his own clone to turn back into a putty without any confusion over identity."

"Hey, neither did I!" Zack commented.

"Of course. I didn't mean that you did," Trini assured him. "But beyond that when Jason broke through his clone's disguise, it turned out not to be a putty, but the twin man himself."

"Battle ensued, used our combined blade blasters, followed by our combined weapons, destroyed the monster, and cleared our names," Billy explained.

"Oh how easily the opinions of the citizens of Angel Grove can change," Zack laughed.

"But for once at least, we didn't have to call in the zords. So we demorphed, teleported back, once Alpha and Zordon told us Bulk and Skull were trying to get us in trouble for skipping detention, and weren't in the room to see us come back," Jason remarked.

"Yeah, we'd never really devised a plan of returning," Trini agreed. "Kaplan came in, followed by Bulk and Skull, and we made it look like we'd never left. And that's it."

"You all skipped detention?" Conner asked, eyes wide.

"Well, it was either that or let Rita win. I think saving the world sort of compensates for it," Jason told him.

"Dude, they aren't perfect!" Conner explained, causing everyone else to roll their eyes.

"News flash. Duh!"

"Ok, see now you've gone and ruined the allusion Dr. O had created on Conner," Trent told them. "He's not going to be as easy to control anymore." By this point, they'd all thown away their trash, and were on their way to turn in for the night. Jason said goodnight to Trini who headed to Kimberly and Kira's room with Kira. Adam, Rocky, and Aisha went on towards their own rooms, and Billy followed Zack off to the room they were currently sharing, leaving Jason to follow the teenagers back to Tommy and their rooms.

The teens said goodnight to Jason and disappeared inside, ready to pass out after the long day and the horrible night's sleep they'd all had the day before. While Jason attempted to open Tommy's door with his key. The door wouldn't open. Jason double checked the room twice, making sure it was indeed the right one, then knocked on the teens door.

Trent opened the door, staring at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Your black ranger locked me out," Jason growled.

"Oh," was all Trent managed to say as Jason pushed passed him and went to the connecting door. Without knocking he turned the handle and pushed against it with his shoulder, only to be faced with the sharp resistance of a door that was bolted shut.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jason hissed and began to bang on the door. "Tommy! I know you're in there now open this door!" He didn't get an answer. "Tommy!" Still silence. Jason continued banging.

"Jason! Go away!" Tommy's voice finally rang from the other side of the door, actually making the teenagers sigh in relief. It was very reassuring to know that their science teacher was indeed back at the hotel.

"Come on Bro, you know it was all Trini's idea. Let me in. I need sleep."

"Jason, Tommy told you to go away. And I second that motion." Jason paused, fist raised in mid-knock. Dumbstruck he lowered his hand and blinked a few times. That hadn't been Tommy's voice. It was Kimberly's. Locked inside a hotel room with Tommy. Jason just turned to the teenagers who were likewise staring, startled that Kimberly was inside the room with Tommy.

"I think I'll go crash with Adam," Jason told them, leaving the room, and heading toward's the second black rangers room. Adam wouldn't turn him away. They'd been teammates once before, when he was gold and Adam was green. Jason knocked slowly on Adam's door and two seconds later the man was opening the door, standing in the doorway in a pair of black sweat pants.

"Jase, what's up?" he asked surprised.

"Can I crash here?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Why?" Adam said, letting him in. "I thought you were sharing with Tommy."

"Tommy's got company," Jason told him, still letting it sink in.

"Company?" Adam asked, closing the door and following Jason into the room.

"Kimberly."

* * *

Oh, poor Jason. He's so confused about Tommy and Kimberly, and his wife nearly leaving him, and his masculinity. Ok, I think I'm done abusing him for right now. But who shall I torment next. Anyway, hope you all liked it. More to come after my finals over the next two days.

Fateless Wanderer


	22. Coming Clean

YAY for so many reviews in such a short span of time. You all don't know how loved you make me feel. Oh and I discovered someone wrote a fic based off this and Of Love and Bunnies, and while it needs some more development, I am flattered, really, I am.

Ok, onward!

* * *

Jason rolled over in his bed once again to look at the clock, which read 8:03 AM, only three minutes since the last time he'd checked it. He knew he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, considering he remember reading the clock, at least once every hour since he and Adam had gone to bed for the night. He glanced at his current roommate, who looked like he was peacefully asleep, a thought which slightly irritated him. Why did he have to be the only one dieing of curiosity as to what the first pink ranger was doing in her ex-boyfriend's bed room all night. It just wasn't fair. He wanted it to be someone else's problem so he could actually get some sleep. Jason slowly closed his eyes, getting bored of studying the ceiling when his cell phone rang, causing him to nearly jump out of bed in surprise. Adam opened one eye and stared at him, eyebrow raised, telling Jason he hadn't really been asleep.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you? I've been knocking on Tommy's door for the past five minutes and no one's answering." Trini said into the phone.

"Adam's room," Jason responded casually. He would have said more, but Trini hung up the phone. Jason stared at his for a moment before shrugging and placing it on the end table beside the bed. "You get any sleep?"

"No. You?" Adam returned, stretching. Jason just shook his head, grumbling about Tommy being absolutely annoying and making sure he'd get caught purposely so he wouldn't get any rest that night. And it had been one very long, trying day. A series of rapid knocks, made Adam pull himself off his bed and open the door, to admit a rather frantic looking Trini and a very sleepy looking Kira, who blushed when she saw Adam and Jason topless, and Jason only in his boxers.

Adam just gave her a shy smile, and allowed her follow Trini inside, before closing the door behind them. "What brings you two by?" Jason asked his wife, giving her a kiss good morning.

"Kimberly never came back last night. Jase, what if something bad has happened to them?"

"Huh? Oh. Don't worry about them. Kimberly's fine," Jason assured her.

"Wait, why did you sleep here?" Trini asked, frowning. "No!" she exclaimed when Jason gave her a look.

"Yes."

"Did they?"

"I don't know," Jason answered, continuing the few word sentences he and his wife were accustomed to. Unfortunately, Kira and Adam couldn't quite understand what was being said, even though Adam knew what it was about.

"Uh, what are you guys talking about," Kira asked, trying to keep her eyes on Trini, instead of her science teacher's two male friends, which was a rather difficult task.

"Kimberly spent the night with Tommy," Adam told her, causing the teenager to look at him, her eyes as wide as dish plates. She turned a slight shade of green.

"I can't believe it actually worked," Trini laughed. "I figured we'd at least get them to stop fighting, but wow. They spent the night together? Something big must have happened yesterday," Trini continued, and began pacing up and down Adam's room, trying to figure out just exactly what it was that might have gone on the day before to result in Kimberly and Tommy sharing a room.

"Calm down Trini," Jason told her. "We still don't know what they were doing."

"True."

"Oh god," Kira said, her mind jumping to very forbidden places. "I don't think I want to hear any more about this."

"Well, you will at breakfast," Trini laughed, jumping up and taking the teenager by the hand. "We'll make sure Zack, Billy, and the Dino rangers are up, if you'll get Rocky and Aisha," Trini told her husband and Adam, both who nodded agreement, and watched as the now very excited former yellow ranger, and her sickened former yellow ranger teen companion disappeared from the room.

"Think Trini might be getting carried away?" Adam asked Jason, who shrugged in answer.

"Who knows; when its Tommy and Kimberly, just about anything can happen." Jason grabbed his pants and began pulling them back on. "I'm gonna need to get some clean clothes from his room later," he remarked more to himself than to Adam, who'd grabbed his own clothing, and headed into the bathroom. He knew exactly what the plan was for today, so he tossed on a pair of black shorts and a white T-shirt before re-emerging to join Jason.

As soon as they finished, Adam used the room phone to call next door to Aisha and Rocky.

"Hmm?" Rocky muttered into the phone, obviously not awake yet.

"Time to get up," Adam laughed, while Jason plopped back down on his bed and flipped the TV on.

"No," Rocky told him.

"But you'll want to get up for this."

"What?"

"Jason ended up having to spend the night with me," Adam answered him. "Take a guess why."

There was a rather long pause on the other end of the line. "I have no idea. You've decided you needed a roommate?" Rocky asked, rolling his eyes. Adam just sighed. "Tell me!"

"I'm not going to tell you if you're too dumb to figure it out yourself."

"I'm not dumb. I'm tired. There's a huge difference," Rocky argued, now fully awake, and sitting on the edge of his bed. Aisha had her arms wrapped around his waist, not letting him out of the bed. "Come on, just tell me."

"You'll have to come down to breakfast if you really want to know. See you there in a bit, bro." Adam laughed, hanging up the phone. That would get at least Rocky out of bed, and more than likely frustrate Aisha enough to make her come too. "Ready to go?" he asked the former red ranger who was slowly turning up the volume on the television.

Jason shook his head, as the station he was on zoomed in to show a huge stage with six podiums on it, and a huge sign above that read "POWER RANGERS CELEBRATION".

"What are they doing?" Jason muttered, as the news caster began her report.

"I'm here at Angel Grove Park where preparations for the upcoming celebration next week are in full swing. As you can see, behind me, is the stage that will be central for the ceremonies. The mayor has asked that six podiums be placed on the stage, in hopes that not only will our beloved rangers make an appearance for the first time in so many years, but that they'll be willing to answer any questions the public has. The mayor is also hopeful that we may even learn the identities of our six heros."

"Fat chance," Jason laughed.

"They better not be holding their breath," Adam agreed, smiling. "Come on. The others are going to get a kick out of that." Jason nodded and followed him, forgetting to shut the TV off. He and Adam were half way out the door when the news program shifted.

"In other local news Cory Baker is behind bars, for the third time this morning. Yesturday, early afternoon, Baker assaulted a man coming out of one of Angel Grove's fine dining facilities. The victim, Dr. Thomas Oliver, was rushed to Angel Grove Hospital to be treated for injuries he sustained to his head."

That was enough to get both Adam and Jason to rush back into the room to watch the remainder of the program, nearly knocking each other over in the process.

This time a male announcer stood in front of a small diner on the east side of Angel Grove, talking to the camera. "Oliver, a resident of Reefside, California, attended Angel Grove High School during the time when the power rangers were battling Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. He and his girlfriend, Kimberly Hart, also a student of Angel Grove High School at that time, were visiting for the upcoming celebration that led to this rather horrifying turn of events. We can only imagine how Angel Grove must look to them now."

The news cast ended, leaving both Jason and Adam staring at the screen. They turned to each other and burst out laughing. "This just gets better and better," Adam said, and Jason nodded as they dashed out of the room, rushing to get to the breakfast area and tell everyone what they knew.

* * *

"You didn't have to wait for us," Aisha told Adam, as she sat down next to him. She and Rocky were the last to arrive at breakfast, which Trini'd already collected for them all. There was now a basket of muffins, bagels, and donuts sitting in the middle of table that Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Adam, Conner, Ethan, Trent, and Kira were all sitting around. Rocky took one of the remaining three seats, and grabbed a muffin, before leaning back and biting into it.

"We wanted to. We've got good stuff," Jason told her, grinning like a hyena.

"So spill," Billy told him.

"You want to or should I?" the former red ranger asked Adam who only laughed and nodded towards him.

"You tell. I don't think I can without laughing."

"Alright then. We found out what Tommy and Kimberly did all day yesterday. Tommy got knocked out by the city drunk, Cory Baker. He ended up in the hospital for treatment of his injuries," Jason told them.

"You're kidding?" Zack laughed.

"How do you know this?" Rocky asked.

"Well, that's the best part. He made the news. Alongside his girlfriend, Kimberly."

"His what?" Aisha laughed. "Oh, wait until they hear about that. Where are they anyway?"

"Probably still in bed," Trini told them.

"Come again?" Billy blurted out, after he barely managed to swallow his coffee and not shower the group with it.

"They spent the night together in Tommy's room," Jason told them. Billy's eyes were wide in surprise. So were the rest of the groups, save the teens who all looked a bit sick at the thought. "Conner? Did you hear anything last night?"

"Voices," the teenager replied, blushing at having to answer such a question. "I mean, it wasn't distinct. We couldn't make out what they were saying."

"Well, it could be anything."

"What could be anything?" Jason turned around, to come face to face with a grinning Tommy and Kimberly, both who looked like they were ready for a day in the park. But that wasn't what caused him and the others to stare. It was the fact that Kimberly's hand was clasped in Tommy's, and she was leaning on his shoulder, very much like she'd done when they were in high school.

"Have fun last night?" Trini asked them, while Jason attempted to overcome the shock, smiling.

"We did," Tommy affirmed, sitting down beside Rocky. Kimberly grinned and sat down on his lap, instead of the empty chair between him and Jason. Zack nearly chocked on his drink, and actually ended up coughing, with Billy patting his back. "And you? Enjoy your flight?"

"I'm sure I enjoyed it as much as you enjoyed your trip to the emergency room," Trini retorted sweetly, causing the smile on Tommy's face to falter a bit. Ha! She smiled inside. Triumph.

"So, you heard about that?"

"Oh yes. You made the news," Adam told him.

"What about me?" Kimberly asked, pouting.

"They talked about you too," Jason assured her, looking at her as if she'd gone completely insane. Something very strange was going on, and it was beginning to drive him crazy, but one look from Trini kept him from saying anything. Maybe Kimberly didn't know she was sitting on Tommy's lap.

"Good. Kira, were you able to get into the room alright last night?" she asked the teenager, who nodded slowly, watching her science teacher's strange behavior. He couldn't quite reach the donuts with Kimberly on his lap, so he'd begun tickling her until she slipped into the seat beside him, sideways, so she could still lean back on his chest.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Tommy asked.

"Adam, Rocky and I wanted to go spend the day in Stone Canyon. We figured we'd hit the park. I was kind of hoping you'd all come."

"Well, I'm game. What about you Kim?" Tommy asked her. Kimberly sat up straight in her own chair for the first time that morning and nodded.

"Definitely."

"Ok then. Stone Canyon Park, it is then," Jason agreed. "But first, breakfast, and Billy has a little story he's supposed to tell us."

"A story involving Billy that we don't know?" Kimberly asked, looking at her friend. Now it was her turn to be confused. "What's this about?"

"Ok, just why he felt he needed to lie to us earlier this week."

"Said lie has made Jason a bit bitter," Zack explained when Kimberly and Tommy stated giving the former red ranger looks.

"Alright fine. But it's not pretty. And I'm sure you're all going to hate me when it's over," Billy told him.

"Billy, we could never hate you," Kimberly assured him, taking her friends hand in her own.

"Yeah, man. Whatever it is, you can tell us," Tommy added.

"Maybe we should sit this one out?" Conner asked the adults. Once again, Billy shook his head and told them to stay. They'd only known them for about a week, but the kids were becoming family already.

"Ok. The story starts about five years ago. Cestria and I had just welcomed Celest into our lives. Before I continue, there's something you need to know about my children. Celest is five, and William is seven, and they're both human. They're actually almost clones of myself, with some of Cestria's DNA thrown in; but nothing that would make them even partial Aquitans. Cestria and I decided that was best, that way the kids could visit earth without needing a water source. You have no idea how much easier it is for a human to live on Aquitar than it is for an Aquitan to live here."

"We do have some clue," Adam told him.

"We were the ones that got stuck helping the Alien rangers after you abandoned us for adult hood," Rocky added.

"Adult hood?" Kira asked, looking at her teacher, who was trying not to meet the eyes of his teenaged teammates.

"You've never heard about the time Billy got to take charge of the team?" Kimberly asked her. Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Trent all shook their heads "no."

"And they don't need to know."

"Please!" the four of them begged.

"NO!" The response came from Tommy, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha.

"We have no desire to relive that experience," Aisha told the teens a little more calmly. Billy just grinned.

"I'll tell you all later about the weeks they spent as elementary schoolers," Billy told them, grinning. All four teenagers stared at Tommy, who was now blushing bright red.

"Can we get back to the story before my students loose all respect for me?"

"It's too late for that Dr. O." Trent assured him, smiling. "I thought we had it bad. At least we never got turned into toddlers."

"We weren't toddlers! We were children!" Rocky corrected him.

"Bratty children," Billy snorted.

"Hey, you were one of us for a little while too," Adam reminded him. "I seem to remember you being with us at the police station."

"Ok, ok. Anyway, where was I?" Billy said, figuring he'd probably stalled long enough and Jason would force him into continuing if he didn't start back up soon. "Right, so Celest was no more than a few weeks old, and William was two years old. Things started simple enough. The Aquitan government began fighting among themselves. The younger members wanted more laws, while the older politicians felt that things were just fine as they were. Anyway, a young man named Raphel on the parliament was the leader of the young radicals, as they'd become know. One day he just disappear. Many people thought he'd been assassinated, while still others felt he'd been kidnapped. And even another group thought he'd just given up and resigned, and then gone into hiding.

"I knew different, due to my position it the government. Being one of the lead scientists had it's benefits, but I was sworn to secrecy. Raphel had deserted the planet, promising his followers that he would return, and when he did, Aquitar would be in for a change, no matter what he had to do to make it change.

"Obviously the elders didn't like the sound of his threats. However, they weren't overly concerned. Still, Aurico and I felt we needed to be prepared. Together, along with the other Aquitan rangers, we trained a group of warriors to serve as extra protection for the peaceful planet, which hadn't been bothered since the destruction of the Hydro Hog."

"Hydro Hog?" Conner asked, getting glares from everyone for interrupting the story.

"Monster," Tommy told him simply, then turned his attention back to Billy.

"The training we gave them was useless. Raphel returned towards the end of the year. But he didn't return alone. With him was an entire army made up of a race of beings unlike anything we had ever faced before," Billy told them, placing his head in his hands. Now came the hard part of what he was about to tell them.

"Aquitar battled the Tsumarans, as they called themselves, for months, neither side gaining or loosing ground. However, things weren't looking good. I made one of the hardest decisions I'd ever made in my life at that moment. A small group of Aquitans had decided to abandon Aquitar in hopes of finding a new home, suitable for habitation. They said they had room for Cestria, the children, and myself. Despite Cestria's protests, I put the three of them on the shuttle, promising I would find her, wherever they ended up, before returning to the battle.

"For several weeks after that, we seemed to be gaining ground against Raphel and his army. I hadn't heard anything from Cestria, and I feared the twenty of them on the shuttle would never find someplace to go.

"And then it happened. The one event that lead to Aquitar's defeat. Tideus, Delphine, and Corcus were captured and executed in front of everyone. Cestro, Aurico, and I went into hiding, as the rest of Aquitar surrendered to the Tsumarans and Raphel was made supreme ruler."

"Oh my god," Aisha breathed. She, Adam, Rocky, and Tommy all had tears in their eyes, having known the alien rangers personally. The other adults looked horrified, while the teenagers just felt a huge sense of loss, despite not even knowing that the beings Billy spoke of were rangers as well.

Tommy suddenly punched the table. "We promised we'd be there to help them if they were ever in trouble. Why didn't they contact us?"

Billy looked away, tears in his eyes. "It was a mutual decision."

"What?" Adam asked, this time, anger in his voice.

"We, that is the Alien Rangers and I, we'd been planning to contact you until a few days before they were killed. Cestro and I had almost completed a communication device that would have sent the distress message without detection; but Aurico approached me one day. He told me that he didn't think that the rangers and he didn't think they would escape this, and asked if I really wanted to put you all in danger. I made the final call. I couldn't stand the idea of any of you dieing after everything we survived. I allowed Cestro to destroy the device."

"Billy!" Rocky growled. "We could have helped."

"No! If you'd have come, it could have been you I watched get decapitated in front of an audience. It could have been any one of you," Billy argued back, not meeting any of their eyes. He knew they were angry with him. "I did what I felt was right. I protected those I loved."

"You're not supposed to protect us. We're supposed to protect others."

"Tommy, all we've got is our Ninjetti powers. I could barely make a dent in the Tsumarans. I nearly got killed twice. There's no way we could have helped."

"But we owed them," Adam continued the argument. Aisha was still crying, her face buried in the shirt of angry Rocky. Billy once again shook his head. This was why he hadn't told them the truth.

"And we have our powers. They helped you guys out. They saved our world. We could have been there to save theirs," Jason told the former blue ranger.

"What would you have me do? Reverse time so that I could attend your funerals?" Billy yelled, a bit too loudly, drawing stares.

"We still should have done something," Tommy argued. "I at least should have done something."

"Tommy, they wouldn't have wanted you too. Cestro and Aurico wouldn't even let me tell you what had happened after we lost the others." Billy told him, gently. "They didn't want your lives risked as well."

"Where are they now, Billy?" Trini asked, steadily, while Rocky, Adam, and Tommy continued to look angry.

"I don't know. After we went into hiding, Raphel sent bounty hunters after us. We were nearly caught several times. That's all my ninjetti powers were good for; escaping. About two months after he took power, two bounty hunters closed in on our location, and had us cornered. Aurico and Cestro… they…" Billy paused for a second, this time, crying fully.

"Slow down, and try again," Trini told him, rubbing his back.

"They pushed me out the back, and distracted the bounty hunters so I could escape. I managed to hijack a government shuttle. That's what we'd been planning to do. There was nothing we could do anymore, so we wanted to find those who'd left months before. But they never made it to the shuttles. I had orders to wait no more than twenty minutes before I got myself out. I have no idea to this day if they're even still alive."

"What'd you do?" Zack asked him, a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"I left. I took the shuttle and headed to earth. I figured once I got here, I could find a way to contact Cestria and the kids. I didn't even know where to start looking, but I knew I could come here. I'd be safe here."

"There's still a bounty on you, isn't there?" Jason asked him. Billy just nodded.

"I can't leave here. They'd find me. That's the main reason I didn't contact you all. The reason why Cestria had to beg me into attending this reunion. I live every day with the fear that Raphel will find me and try to kill me. He'd have no problems killing any one of you as well. I'd rather die alone than let anything happen to you."

"I'm sorry Billy," Tommy whispered. "I should have known how hard those decisions were for you… I just wish."

"I do too, Tommy. I really do. But we wouldn't have been able to do anything."

"Nothing?" Adam asked, calmer this time.

"No, Adam. We'd have lost. We weren't, aren't strong enough."

"And if they come here?" Jason asked him. "Are you going to try and stop us from fighting?"

Billy sighed and shook his head. "That'd be like trying to stop a rocket from taking off after the initiation sequence. I'll be right there beside you."

Jason simply nodded to this. Adam and Rocky did as well. Tommy just gave him a reassuring look, while Zack, stared at his drink, in thought, and Kimberly and Trini tried to calm Aisha's tears. The teenagers remained silent.

"What about you family? How'd you find them, Billy?" Kimberly asked, one hand in Tommy's, and this time she really didn't realize she was connected to him; it was just habit for when something bad happened that she wanted to be near him.

"I moved back in with my father, but I had to tell him everything. I mean, he knows I was a Power Ranger, and while I didn't tell him anything about you all…"

"He could probably guess," Zack nodded for him to continue. They understood.

"I searched for her for a while, but kept coming up empty. Finally, I caught a faint single coming from a homing device I'd sent with each of them. It was William's. He'd have been almost four by this point, and Celest would have been about two. I finally made contact with the shuttle. They'd be unsuccessful in finding a new home, and there were only about five others besides Cestria and the kids left alive. I told them to come to Earth, and we'd figure out how to make it work.

"When they got here, they were all very weak. I really had acquired a job with the United States government. I do work for a branch of intelligence, mainly with scientific development. The five Aquitans are now living fairly normal lives in Washington, as is Cestria, using holographic devices that make them look human. Celest and William were the only children on board, and now they're growing up like normal human children, except we're home schooling them until we feel we can send them to public school without them saying anything about Aquitar. William remembers enough, but all Celest remembers is being on a shuttle for nearly a year of her life. She barely remembers what an Aquitan looks like since her mother always wears her hologram."

"Oh Billy," Kim whispered, hugging him.

"I had no idea," Jason told him. "I'm sorry for being angry with you."

"No, you had a right. I shouldn't have lied. I should have trusted that you all would understand."

"We understand, but that doesn't mean we're ok with it," Rocky told him. "You can't lie to us anymore. And if someone's in danger, I want to know about it."

"I understand," Billy told him.

"Good," Rocky said. This was one of the first times the teenagers had seen the older man look so serious. All the amusement and humor was gone from all of the adults, and in a way the teenagers felt very strange, almost unworthy of being around the veteran rangers. Now they understood why the first teams were so important to the legacy. It wasn't just because they were the first. It was because they'd done so much. They'd fought the longest, and had the most complex history and powers. They weren't just heroes in name. They were heroes in soul. And they were a family.

"Before we go to Stone Canyon, I want to go to the landing site," Tommy suddenly stated. It wasn't a request. It was a command."

"I think it would be best if the five of you go," Jason told them. "It's something you need to do." Adam, Aisha, Rocky, Billy, and Tommy nodded.

"Have you been there?" Aisha asked Billy.

"Not since Cestria arrived. And I destroyed the shuttle and left as quickly as I could then."

"I'll come too," Kimberly said. "For Kat," she explained. The others nodded to her.

"Come. I haven't got much of an appetite anymore," Trini told them. Once again, they all agreed.

The adults solemnly lead the way to the cars, while the teens hung back a little.

"I feel like I just lost something I didn't even know I had," Conner told his teammates, who nodded. They all felt it too. There was a hole somewhere where there had once been none. They couldn't identify it though. It was just a very large sense of loss.

Together, as instructed, Kira and Trent climbed into the back seat of Jason and Trini's SUV, while Conner and Ethan followed Zack and Billy to Zack's car. Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy got into Tommy's car, while Aisha, Rocky, and Adam, took Rocky's. The four cars then proceeded in two opposite directions.

* * *

About a half hour drive out of town, the six former rangers pulled their two cars to a halt, a slight distance into the desert, hidden from anyone who might come along, and quietly got out. Usually they would have been chattering excitedly when making a trip to this location. It was the first place they'd met the alien rangers, and had even been the place where they'd bid farewell, or tried to, to Billy when he left for Aquitar after graduating early. It had always been important, and now it would be a memorial.

Tommy led the way, Kimberly directly behind him, carrying a bouquet of flowers that they'd stopped and picked up on their way. The two of them were followed by Adam and Billy, and lastly by Rocky and Aisha. None of the six had said more than a few words since they'd left the hotel, and the silence was deafening.

Finally, Tommy stopped walking, gazing at a spot a bit farther in front of him that showed signs of harsh use. Around it were bits of unidentifiable metal of the two space crafts that Billy had been forced to destroy.

"You did well," Tommy told him, his voice slightly above a whisper, as the wind of being high up swirled around them.

"Thanks," Billy mumbled, and Kimberly handed Aisha the flowers. The former yellow ranger sighed, and stepped forward into the center of the landing site, and placed the flowers down, then stepped back into Rocky's embrace. Kimberly placed one hand on Tommy's shoulder, wrapping her other arm around his, lending him her support. Billy and Adam stood on the outsides of the four of them.

Silently they all lent their thoughts and prayers to the five Aquitan rangers who'd lended their services to earth so many years before. They were the first of the rangers to die, and the first to actually loose their lives in a battle, sentencing their world to darkness. Helping Aquitar was no a hopeless idea, and the weeks that they'd spent with the Alien rangers seemed so far away from them at that point, almost as if it had all been a dream.

Finally Tommy sighed and began to speak, addressing his teammates, but not actually looking at them. "Billy's right. I can feel it here. We wouldn't have helped; maybe prolonged the battle, but we wouldn't have won."

"How do you know?" Rocky asked him.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I can feel Delphine. She's speaking to me through our color connection. She speaking as the leader of her team."

"Leader to leader," Adam mumbled, kicking the dirt a bit. He wondered if he could feel Tideus, unaware, that his teammates were at that moment trying to feel their own color connections. "So what now… leader?" He was completely sincere when he asked. He felt to weak at that moment to make any decisions for himself. He felt powerless and small. He felt like he did the first time he'd met the Aquitan rangers, except he was standing there, a full grown, man.

"We forgive our teammate and our friend. There really is nothing to forgive. Billy made the right call," Tommy told them. "Billy, can you accept our apologies?"

"There's no need for them. Your feelings were well justified."

"I can't believe they're gone," Aisha spoke, shuddering a bit into Rocky's side. "I guess I never believed any of us could actually be defeated, let alone killed."

"It really makes you remember you're not invincible," Billy agreed.

"Every time I morphed, I felt as if I were the king of the world, like there wasn't anything I couldn't do," Rocky told them.

"Almost like we were immortal?" Tommy put in. Every one nodded. "Try being evil. That feeling is a hundred times stronger, and much more dangerous. I think it's the good in us that kept us humble."

"We wouldn't have been given the powers if we couldn't handle them," Adam added. Kimberly just nodded. She'd never met the Alien Rangers, but she knew the story. Tommy had told Jason, and he in turn had told Kimberly, Trini, and Zack.

"Time to go join the others?" she asked them, knowing that they were the ones who had to decide when they'd fully paid their respects. Tommy nodded to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Come on. We have to pick up Kira and Trent anyway," Tommy told her.

"And drop us off at the park," Billy reminded them, indicating himself and Adam. The others nodded agreement as they began the walk back to their cars.

* * *

Jason, Trini, Zack, Trent, Conner, Ethan, and Kira sat around a picnic table in the park, about an hour or so later. No one had said anything until they'd gotten there, and then Jason had spent most of the time beating himself up about being so angry with Billy. Had he suspected anything so horrible, he never would have given his friend such a hard time about it. Trini and Zack spent most of the time assuring him that Billy wouldn't hold it against him.

"Why are you four so quiet?" Zack finally asked the teenagers who'd barely said two words to one another, and were walking around, melancholy looks on their faces. Trent and Ethan just shrugged, while Conner tossed the pebble he'd been playing with away.

"I don't know. I guess we just feel empty," Kira told the adults. "But I can't tell why."

"Delphine, Cestro, Aurico, Tideus, and Corcus were the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. When Tommy and the others were put in a position where they couldn't fight, the Alien rangers came and helped to defend earth. They're part of the ranger legacy that you four now share. That's why you feel that way. Your power may be gone, but your connection to the morphing grid isn't and it will never be," Trini explained to them.

"Can you tell us why Dr. O wasn't able to fight."

"We don't know the whole story. You'll have to persuade the other's to tell you," Jason told them. "And Kimberly doesn't know either. It happened right after she gave her power coin to Kat," he added, seeing the look on Kira's face.

"All we do know is that Rita Repulsa's father Master Vile used the Orb of Doom to reverse the earth's rotation, which resulted in everyone being regressed about seven years. Don't try to remember it. You were probably only eight or nine years old when it happened; and even we don't remember it. The only ones who are aware of what happened are Tommy, Adam, Aisha, Rocky, Billy, and Kat because they possessed the ranger powers at that time. Oh, and Tanya remembers as well because Aisha sent her back in her place and she was in the command center when the Zeo crystal was assembled. But while they tried to figure out how to return to normal, the Alien Rangers came to earth to battle Master Vile, Rita and Zedd," Zack explained. "If you want details you'll have to ask your science teacher."

"Ask their science teacher? I thought I already told them we weren't discussing it." Tommy said as the group of six rejoined the other seven. He placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I thought I already made it clear we weren't talking about that."

"Oh come on Dr. O. It's not like anything embarrassing never happened to us," Conner told him.

"And if what Zack says is true, we were sent back to diapers," Ethan told him. "Oh… now I'm really glad I don't remember this."

"Maybe another day, alright."

"Alright," the four teens agreed.

"Billy, listen, I'm sorry for…"

"Already forgotten Jason."

"What about your family?" Aisha asked him.

"Well, Cestria wanted to come. I'll give her a call later and tell her to bring the kids Saturday," Billy assured them all.

"Wow… I still can't picture you as a father," Zack told him, clapping him on the shoulder. Billy just grinned and pulled out his wallet to show pictures.

"You two ready to go?" Tommy suddenly asked Kira and Trent, both who nodded.

"Go where?" Trini asked them.

"Oh, Trent and Kira wanted to shopping, and Kimberly promised them that she'd take them," Tommy informed her.

"And you're tagging along?"

"Why not?" he said, a sinister looking smile, on his face as he once again, wrapped his arm around Kimberly's shoulders. She just turned and smiled up at him instead of elbowing him in the gut like she would have done a few days before. Trent and Kira gave each other looks but followed the two adults to Tommy's jeep.

* * *

Shorter chapter I know. But hey, Its one of my favorite. I promise to get back to the humor in the next few chapters, but I needed to put Billy's tragic history somewhere. Hope you all enjoyed, and please review, I love hearing from all of you, whether you write a book or only a few words.

Fateless Wanderer


	23. Power Ranger Sightings

So I was mistaken. I don't have four chapters outlined, I have five. So yeah, still going to try to get through all of them by Monday, but not guarantees. I've got a lot of unpacking to do since I just moved home from college for the year. I promise to get as many up as I can.

That said, onto chapter 23: Power Ranger Sightings (a chapter that takes a completely different direction than the one before it.)

* * *

"There is definitely something going on between those two. I just wish I knew what it was," Jason told the others as soon as Kimberly and Tommy were out of earshot. He just couldn't figure out how being stranded out in the desert would lead to the two of them sleeping together, if that was indeed what they had done; granted, it hadn't been confirmed nor denied. Jason knew he would have to do some further investigating.

"I don't care what's gotten into them, so long as it stays that way," Zack told him. "This is how it's supposed to be."

"True, but Jason's right. Something fishy is going on. Maybe they're plotting more revenge?" Rocky asked.

"Could be; but somehow I don't think that Trini's flight was for only stranding them out in the desert. He's been plotting since Tuesday," Billy told them. "After all, Kimberly didn't mention anything about the incident at the sports complex last night. I don't think that was her idea.

"You're sure?"

"Definitely. First he put a snake in Zack's bed; then at the mall he messed with Jason. And lastly, he sent Trini soaring. He's using our weaknesses against us."

"But why?" This time it was Zack.

"Simple. You all made fun of him for being the black ranger. Dr. O's not going to stop until you've all been one of his victims." Shocking enough, this was Conner; and it occurred to the adults that the teenager was actually on the right track. Tommy was slowly but surely getting revenge on each and everyone of them for the week worth of embarrassment he'd endured.

"So that leaves Billy, Aisha, Adam, and Rocky," Trini ticked off.

"Don't forget Kimberly," Ethan told them. However, Trini shook her head.

"Doubtful. They're both thinking about the other differently at the moment. Unless something big occurs to screw it up for them, Tommy's not going to mess things up. Hell, he got Kimberly to share his room."

"How do you know it wasn't Kimberly who got Dr. O?" Conner asked Trini.

"Not likely," Billy explained. "Tommy's the one who's more likely to want Kimberly back. He's the one who's going to fight for her. That's the way it's always been between the two of them. Tommy's the hero, and Kimberly is the damsel in distress in need of saving."

"Her very own White Knight," Jason added with a nod.

"As interesting as all this sounds, if you guys don't mind there's someplace I want to take Rocky," Aisha suddenly cut in. "That is if you guys don't mind us ditching for a bit."

"No, go ahead. We'll be fine," Billy interjected, smiling at them. "Planning anything special?"

"Oh you know, this and that," Rocky replied, grinning at Aisha.

"Just promise you won't get arrested, or land in the hospital," Adam begged them.

"Scouts honor," Rocky said. Aisha just nodded, grabbed Rocky by the hand, and headed off to the cars.

"Our numbers are certainly dwindling today," Jason commented. Adam nodded agreement.

"Speaking of dwindling numbers; did anyone happen to see where Conner and Ethan disappeared to?" Zack asked, looking around. Sure enough, the two teenagers had disappeared.

"Oh shit," Jason cursed under his breath. "Tommy's not going to be happy."

* * *

"So I'm thinking that was a bit too easy," Kira said, once she and Trent were seated in the back seat of Tommy's car. She was in the middle, leaning forward so she could talk to both her teacher and Kimberly. "Shouldn't they have questioned us more?"

"Yeah, Jason and Trini usually seem to pick up on things," Trent through in, causing the two adults to laugh.

"They usually do. But they're too busy with something else at the moment," Tommy told them, winking at Kimberly. As soon as they were out of sight, Tommy'd taken his arm off Kimberly. Granted neither teenager was paying too much attention to what their mentor was doing, so they never really noticed.

"What do you mean?" Trent asked him.

"They're trying to figure out what's going on between Tommy and I," Kimberly told them.

"Unfortunately, I already know more than I want to," Kira replied, sitting back in the seat.

"Actually, you only think you know more than you want to," Tommy informed her. They were headed down a some back roads at this point, headed towards a large shopping area Aisha and Rocky had given them in depth directions too a few days before.

"Ok, I'm now officially confused," Trent stated.

"There's absolutely nothing going on between Kimberly and I that hasn't been going on since we first got here. Only now we've just got the other's believing there is."

"So last night?"

"All we did was talk, Kira."

"And at breakfast this morning?"

"I'm a pretty good actress, aren't I?" Kimberly laughed.

"Wow. They're going to kill you when they find out," Trent whistled, causing more laughter from the two veteran adults.

"Just don't say anything and I won't have to kill you two."

"Not a word," Kira promised, Trent nodding along side her. "So you really think Jason and Trini have no idea. What about Adam?"

"So far everything looks like it's a secret. I just hope things stay that way until Saturday," Tommy told her. "You and Trent got the music ready right?"

"All set, Dr. O. Kira and I raided Kimberly and Zack's CD cases, as well as our own, and snuck a few from their cases at Jason and Trini's on Wednesday while they were out stranding you in the desert. By the way, how exactly did they manage that."

"They used our weaknesses," Kimberly explained. "That's the trouble with friends who know you inside and out."

"Really, what'd they do?"

"Well, all Trini needed to do was wait until I got in the car. Later, she got Jason to get me into Rocky's car beside Tommy. I can't beat Jason in brute strength, and we weren't far enough into the desert that I would have risked using Ninjetti powers to get away, so basically, I just gave in."

"And Dr. O?"

"They chased me, wrestled me to the ground, tied me up and gagged me."

"Are all former rangers crazy?" Trent asked.

"You tell me. Have you lost it yet?"

"I meant old former rangers," he continued and Kira hit him.

"Didn't you learn anything from when Conner called Aisha old? She nearly killed him."

"Dr. O can't kill me when he's driving a car. At least not without accidentally killing himself and Kimberly too."

"Yes, be he can kill you once we're out of the car, and I would very much prefer that you live," Kira told him, snuggling up against his arm.

"If you two are finished, perhaps you can elaborate on Aisha nearly killing Conner?"

"And how he escaped," Kimberly finished for Tommy. No one usually escaped Aisha's wrath. No one.

* * *

Conner and Ethan had taken the moment that the adults were distracted by Aisha and Rocky, to use all the stealth they'd learned, and slip away. They hadn't really expected it to work out so well, but yet, here they were, dashing through Stone Canyon park as if a pack of mad dogs was chasing them, trying to put a good distance between themselves and the former rangers.

"Are you still so sure we should be doing this? I mean, logically, I don't think Dr. O's going to care that we're going to convince people that the Power Rangers aren't staying at the hotel."

"We've got to at least try, Ethan. I mean, Bulk and Skull are close," Conner replied, still running, and being very thankful for still having a lot of the endurance. It didn't hurt that the four of them had been going on morning runs every since they'd lost their powers in order to stay in shape. And then of course, Conner had soccer. "I don't think that Dr. O and the others realize how close they are."

"You're right. Skull said something about going through some of his old high school stuff. They're completely positive that the Power Rangers went to high school with them. And Bulk mentioned something about once hearing the yellow ranger call the blue one, Bill."

"They've got to be even dimmer than I am not to put any emphasis on that," Conner laughed once they'd finally reached the far end of the park. Several empty taxis waited to take people places, and since the former red teen really didn't have any set plans about how they were going to get back to the hotel, he figured might as well use what they had. "You have any money?"

"Enough to get us back. But Dr. O's going to have a heart attack when he finds us missing. Last chance. You sure we should do this?"

"Definitely. I don't like that Bulk and Skull are looking at Dr. O and Jason as potential power rangers. If they ever do figure it out, they'll be able to associate us with Dr. O and then we could loose our identities as well. I don't want that," Conner replied, keeping his voice low, as he and Ethan walked over to cab and then silently climbed into the back seat, asking to be driven to Angel Grove Inn.

A little under an hour later, Ethan paid the driver, and the two teenagers entered the lobby of the hotel, only to run into Bulk and Skull who were waiting for them.

"What happened? I thought you were going to meet us here this morning?" Bulk asked Conner, as soon as he spotted them.

"Dr. O dragged us all the way to Stone Canyon. We're going to get the lecture of our lives once he figures out where we've gone," Ethan informed them. Bulk just shook his head, dismissing Tommy's wrath.

"Don't worry about him. He always was a weakling in school. Weird too. Disappeared a lot. And boy was he moody," Bulk informed them, causing the teenagers to smile at one another. "Ok, so anyway, here's what we've got. The fliers advertising a power ranger autograph signing on Saturday have been set up all over Angel Grove to be held in the park by the lake. But we still don't know how we're going to unmask them."

"Well, we did say we couldn't promise that you'd unmask them. They're power rangers, after all. When they did this in Reefside, the blue and red rangers showed up, answered some question, but when someone tried to remove their helmets, they left," Conner lied.

"Yeah, they don't like it when you do that. But if you listen to their voices maybe you'll get something," Ethan suggested.

"We tried that back in high school; only the genius here screwed up the tape," Bulk told them, pointing at Skull.

"I won't mess up the tape this time," the thinner man told him, glaring a bit. "But you're sure they'll show up?"

"If they can manage it, I highly doubt they'll let their public down, even if they didn't plan it themselves."

"Conner's right. And maybe you'll be able to confirm your suspicions."

"About Jason and Tommy? Out of that whole group, those two are the only ones we'd even consider being rangers, although, even that's a long shot. And they'd have to be red and white or maybe black."

"Why?" Ethan asked Bulk, trying to get as much information out of them as they could. For this too work, they'd have to be prepared.

"Well, pink and yellow were obviously women, and blue had brains as well as the skill of being a power ranger. Jason and Tommy didn't have the intelligence."

"If you say so. Now tomorrow after we give you the signal, don't forget to put up some of those fliers around the hotel," Conner instructed them. "Then get yourselves to the park, or you'll miss everything."

"Right," Skull nodded.

"Will do," Bulk agreed as he and Skull saluted the two teens and wondered off to go about their tasks for the day.

"Think this is going to work?" Ethan asked Conner as soon as they were gone.

"Only if you can get the room key," Conner told him, pushing the teenager towards the counter. Phase one of their plan was completed. Phase two was now under way.

* * *

"I feel bad lying through my teeth all this time," Rocky told Aisha as they drove down the high way. Everyone but the teens and Adam knew where they were really headed, and it wasn't to get any alone time.

"Oh, but tomorrow morning it will be all worth it," Aisha assured him. "Trini, Jason, and Adam are going to be so surprised."

"But he's my best friend. He's going to kill me for this," Rocky argued. Truthfully, he was all for the lies they were telling Trini and Jason, but he wasn't fond of lying to Adam, even if the former black ranger had been in a sour mood several days before. "He better appreciate this, is all I have to say."

"He will, Rocky. Relax," Aisha told her fiancé, as Rocky navigated the roads of their old home town. "Have you thought anymore about what you said last night? About getting married next month?"

"Yeah, I have."

"And?"

"We're going to do it. I mean, if that's what you want. Do you think you can get everything planned in a month's time?"

"Doubtful. Can we make it two at least? I don't want to put a strain on everyone, or myself. I don't want to be worried about anything."

"You got it," Rocky told her, leaning to give her a kiss while they were stopped at a red light. "Spoke to a travel agent last night when you were in the shower. How does a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands sound for our honey moon?"

"Can we really afford it?"

"Yeah, we can. Not the nicest room on the whole ship, but we can afford one with a window and still have enough money to do things on the islands."

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you," Aisha laughed, this time kissing him. Things were finally falling into place. "You know, growing up I worried about how things were going to turn out. What with saving the world all the time, I didn't think we'd ever actually get to have lives, but look at us all now. Zack's got his career, Trini and Jason are happily married, Billy's got an entire family, Adam's going to propose to Tanya soon, and even Kimberly and Tommy are getting their acts together."

"Yeah, what do you think of that anyway?" Rocky asked. "Kind of sudden isn't it?"

"Maybe a little, but it's been such a long time coming, that I don't even want to think about it. It's not really like they had to start a relationship from nothing. They've always loved each other."

"How do you know?"

"I could see it in their eyes the day we met up at the youth center. They were only friends at that point, but you could tell they both wanted more. They just didn't know how to get it."

"Sort of like us, huh?" Rocky asked her, grinning.

"Definitely," Aisha agreed. "And it'll be good for them. They need each other. Tommy never was a strong once she left, and Kim sent that stupid letter. It broke both their hearts."

"I can still remember Adam reading it out loud," Rocky said, shuddering a bit. "Poor Tommy. I thought he was going to drop the weights on himself. He was crushed enough," Rocky added, as he pulled the car into the airport arrivals parking lot. "Come on. We're going to be late, and then we'll never hear the end of it," he told her, parking the car. Aisha just laughed, agreeing with him, and leading the way into the baggage claim.

* * *

"Tommy is so going to kill me," Jason mumbled as he and Trini covered the northern part of the park. So far there had been no sign of Conner and Ethan, and if Tommy didn't kill them, Jason would. He really didn't think Tommy would have anything against him for it.

"We'll just explain to him that he shouldn't have left Conner and Ethan in our care. It'll be his fault," Trini assured him as she helped him look. The group of five had decided to split up in order to find the two renegade former rangers. Unfortunately, they weren't being very successful.

"I'm beginning to think the universe hates all of us," Jason claimed, exasperated. He sat down on a bench, while Trini sat down beside him.

"The universe doesn't hate us," Trini told him. "In fact, the universe loves us. Or at least, it should."

"Maybe. Oh, that reminds me, the mayor's planning on some type of press conference for Saturday."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. Still want to show? I mean, we could let Rocky and Aisha go in our place."

"No, I still want to. What are they expecting though?"

"The mayor's hoping we'll come clean about who we are."

"Yeah right! I'd rather be stepped on by the megazord," Trini laughed. "I'm perfectly happy without everyone knowing who I am."

"Me too. But it could be kind of cool, you know. Walking down the street, people thanking you for saving their asses countless times."

"Walking? Jase, we wouldn't be able to go more than two feet without being mobbed by people if they knew who we are. Besides, none of us can reveal our identities without exposing the others. It would have to be a unanimous decision."

"Like the space rangers? Funny how nobody connected them to the turbo rangers and Justin," Jason remarked. "Although if they had, we'd all be in trouble, since Justin hung out with Tommy, Kat, Tanya, and Adam, which would lead back to Tommy, Kat, Tanya, Rocky, and Adam, which would lead back to…"

"Tommy, Kat, Aisha, Billy, Adam, and Rocky, which would lead to Kim in Kat's place, and then back far enough to you, me, and Zack. Yes Jason, I get it; we're all connected."

"At least to the space rangers. Beyond that," Jason just shrugged. "You know, if feels really weird being around Kira, Trent, Ethan, and Conner."

"Yeah, I agree."

"We're legends, Trini. I don't think I can handle that. Hero was bad enough, but we're the start of a legacy."

"It's a wonderful, successful, legacy," Trini said, wrapping her arms around Jason, and kissing him. "We should be proud. Tommy's rangers are pretty good."

"Although Conner's not too intelligent."

"Aww, he reminds me of Rocky and Zack at his age."

"Yeah, well, he's not going to make it to their age if he keeps this up. Come on, I have a horrible feeling that the two of them aren't in the park anymore."

"You think?" Trini asked, pulling out her cell phone and calling Billy. "Hey, any luck finding them? You what? Oh, today is so not going to go well. Meet us back at the cars, and we'll decide what to do from there." Trini hung up the phone and collapsed back onto the bench.

"What's wrong?"

"Billy lost Adam and Zack."

"How does one loose Adam and Zack?" Jason asked. "They're grown men for god sakes."

"Don't ask me," Trini told him, with a laugh. "Going to the park wasn't even my idea," she allowed Jason to pull her two her feet, and together they headed back to the cars to regroup with Billy.

* * *

Adam had been following Billy and Zack, as the three of them searched randomly though out the park. They'd covered a lot of ground since Adam knew the park about as well as he knew the one in Angel Grove. He was slightly angry that Aisha and Rocky had left him behind; even more angry with Tommy and Kimberly for going off on their own and leaving Conner and Ethan behind.

He'd just happened to glance to his right, and happened to see the two teenagers hopping into a cab.

"Oh shit," he'd said, not giving much more explanation and took off after them, unsure if Billy and Zack were following him. He reached the parking lot as the kids taxi took off, and jumped into the back of his own, pointing his driver towards the taxi. "Follow that cab," he'd remarked, feeling rather stupid for using such a cliché line, but at that point he wasn't overly concerned with it. "I'm going to kill them," he muttered to himself.

A half hour later, he had absolutely no idea where he was other than that he was in a small town in the middle of no where. They'd long since lost the teenagers taxi, since they didn't know where they were going. Adam finally sighed, and paid the man, climbing out of the cab. He didn't have enough cash to get himself back to the park. "Wonderful," he'd muttered, sitting down on a bench. He placed his head in his hands and took a few long breaths in. "Might as well call Billy and have him come get me," he said to himself, pulling out his cell phone, which wasn't getting any signal at the moment. "Damn it! What else could possibly go wrong?"

He had to ask. He just had to ask. Hadn't he learned anything about not provoking the wrath of higher powers. As a power ranger, he should have known that when things look bad, they're going to get much worse before they start getting any better, especially when one asked what more could happen.

It was at the moment that the words escaped his lips that a truck drove by, splashing dirty black water from the gutter all over him. Sopping wet, Adam began to scream a string of profanity at the sky, before dropping back down onto the bench. An elderly woman was now staring at him. He looked up and met her eyes, squarely. "What?"

"You're a mess."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You're different from most people."

"Knew that too. Try again," he said sarcastically, shaking his head at the old woman.

"You're going to come with me." Adam had to grin slightly at that. Here was an old woman who he'd never met before in his entire life, and she was telling him that he was going to go with her, even though he had no intention of doing so. He had no intention of leaving that spot until he figured out just what he'd done to deserve to be stranded god knows where.

"I am, am I?"

"Yes. You're lonely, sopping wet, and miserable. You've got no where to go but up," she told him.

"You have a point," he replied, sighing. "Alright, lead the way then." He stood up and followed the woman who was now smiling at him with a very crooked grin. Adam groaned inwardly, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into now. For all he knew she could be a mass murderer and he was about to become her next victim.

The thought made his skin prickle, but he did his best to relax himself. He was sure his instincts would have told him if this woman was dangerous. He was also pretty sure that he could take her if she did try to kill him.

They walked in silence for a little, until they reached an old looking apartment building with a laundry mat on the first floor. The sign on the door read "CLOSED" but the woman just took out a key and lead Adam inside.

"Strip!" she commanded him as she started rummaging through a box behind the counter. Adam's eyes went wide, and he just sort of gaped at her. There was no way in hell he was taking off his clothing in front of this woman. Comparatively this was like pedophile actions.

"No offence, but…"

"Oh here," she said, grinning and tossing him a pair of grey sweat pants and a t-shirt. Adam smiled, shaking his head. He was over thinking this way too much. She pointed him in the direction of a bathroom, and Adam walked into the small, but pleasant space.

Once he'd pealed his wet clothing off, he stood in front of the sink for a few minutes, looking down at his cell phone, and pondering whether or not he wanted to contact his friends. He actually had service at that moment. However, he wasn't interested in getting back to the chaos at that moment, and instead he just silenced it and stuffed into his pocket, before splashing some cool water onto his face, and then walked back into the laundry mat.

"Feeling better?" the old woman asked. She had set a table with muffins and tea in the middle of laundry mat. Adam nodded as she took his dirty clothing from him and placed them in one of the washing machines as he sat down in a chair. "So why don't you tell me what's gotten you so beaten?" she asked him.

"I'd have no idea where to even start," he remarked, taking a sip of the tea as she rejoined him at the table.

"You could start with your name; I'm Miss Agatha," she explained, pointing to the sign above the counter that said "Miss Agatha's Laundry, Cakes, and Advice". Adam let out a little snort of laughter, before nodding.

"Adam," he replied.

"Well, Adam. Tell me. There's got to be a reason why a young man such as yourself would be standing out on the street looking lost, soaked to the bone."

"It's a long story," Adam told her.

"We've got time," she gave him that same crooked, gap toothed smile, which made Adam want to laugh at his predicament. She was right. He wasn't going to be going anywhere until his clothing was clean and dry. Besides, he didn't even know where he was, nor did his friends, so no one was going to be coming to the former black ranger's rescue any time soon.

"Well it all started when my best friend and his fiancé decided that we should go to Angel Grove for the power ranger's celebration."

* * *

Kira and Trent happily followed Tommy and Kimberly around the shopping center as they finished up last minute details for the next days festivities. They'd been at it for several hours already, and Kimberly was now inside the last store, while Kira leaned against the wall, and Tommy and Trent occupied a bench outside it.

Kimberly finally emerged, smiling.

"You get them?" Tommy asked her, although judging from her smile, he could tell she had. She reached into a small brown bag she carried and pulled out an even smaller black velvet box which she opened to show Tommy, Trent, and Kira.

Trent whistled, while Kira giggled. "They're gorgeous," Kira told her. "I think they're going to love them."

"I know they are," Kimberly responded, placing the box back inside her bag, and then putting the bag in her purse for safe keeping. Suddenly Tommy's phone started ringing. He handed the bags he was carrying over to Kimberly while fishing around in his pocket for his phone. Finally locating it in his back pocket, he pulled the small device out, and looked at the caller ID. Groaning, he handed the phone to Trent and took the bags back.

"It's Haley. You two speak to her," he said. "We'll go put the bags in the car." Tommy didn't bother giving any more of an explanation. Instead he just took the bags back from Kimberly, took the others that were sitting beside the bench, and steering Kimberly away from the bench toward the parking lot. Trent just looked at Kira who shrugged and then answered his teacher's phone.

"Hello?"

"Trent?"

"Yeah, Dr. O told me to answer the phone," Trent told Haley, as he and Kira plopped back down on the bench. "There anything in particular you needed?"

"No, um… Tommy just told me to call."

"It's about time you called back," Kira said, pushing the speaker button and leaning over Trent's shoulder.

"Was I supposed to call back earlier?" Haley asked the teenager.

"Kim said you called Wednesday and that you'd call back," Kira told her.

"Oh," was all Haley said in response. "Hey, is Tommy around, anyway?"

"No, he and Kimberly went to put the stuff in the car," Trent told her. "It's just the four of us for right now. I think we're going to get lunch."

"Stuff? What stuff?"

"Oh, just gowns, flowers, rings. That type of stuff," Kira told her. Had she been able to see Haley's face, she would have seen the other woman turn green. "Oh, Dr. O's on his way back now. You want to speak to him?"

"Yeah. That'd be good," the woman responded a little unsure as Kira hit the button to turn off the speaker, and Trent handed the cell phone to his mentor as the man and Kimberly reached them.

"Hello," Tommy said, pretty emotionlessly. It was a far cry from the greeting he'd given her the second night when they'd gone out to get pizza.

"You told me to call you. I wasn't sure why."

"I think you know," Tommy replied. "But now's not the best time to be talking about it."

"You're mad at me for yelling at Kimberly?"

"Pretty much," Tommy replied. "Are you trying to ruin things for me?"

"Of course not!" Haley told him, slightly offended by his tone. Ok, sure she knew she deserved it. Ever since she's spoken to Kimberly on Wednesday she's sort of regretted everything she'd told the other woman. But she'd been caught of guard, and she wasn't about to pretend she liked her, or even though well of her. But still she knew she shouldn't have been so harsh. "I was trying to protect you."

"I don't understand what it is with everyone wanting to protect me. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself," Tommy retorted. By this time Trent and Kira were staring, trying to figure out what was going on between their teammate and their technical advisor while Kimberly just sort of looked away and tried not to ease drop; which was easier said than done considering she was at the heart of the conversation.

"I'm sorry," Haley told him. "I really am. I wasn't thinking."

"No, you weren't. But like I said, this isn't the best time to be discussing this," Tommy replied coldly.

"She's right there with you?"

"Yes. We've been spending quite a good deal of time together," Tommy informed her. "Spent two nights together actually."

This statement caused Haley to turn a bit red. She couldn't tell if he was lying or not; if he was trying to purposely make her mad. Either way, it had worked. "You're trying to get your heart broken again."

"If I do, it'll be my own fault," Tommy replied. "But I don't need a babysitter, or a big sister, telling my friends off. Especially when those friends mean the world to me." Tommy finally sighed, unable to remain cryptic for much longer, knowing that the teenagers would eventually figure out what he was talking about. "Listen, Haley. I love you as a sister and you're truly one of my best friends, but I need you to back off, or at least give her a chance. What happened was a long time ago, and I've moved on and forgiven her, and I'd like if you could do the same."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, where Tommy could hear her breathing. He remained silent, noticing that Kira and Trent still looked a bit confused, and that Kimberly was blushing a bit. He took her hand in his and squeezed it, reassuring her that he still cared about her. They were friends, and he wasn't going to let Haley screw that up for him.

"You're right," Haley finally told him. "You're totally right. Can you tell her I'm sorry?"

"I will," Tommy replied.

"Tommy, just do me one favor," Haley asked him.

"What?"

"Don't marry her with Trent and Kira as your witnesses," she begged. Tommy grinned.

"Can't make any promises," he told her. "I'll call you later Haley." He hung up the phone before she could respond and put it back into his front pocket. "Kimberly, Haley says she's sorry, and that she was wrong. Which by her standards is probably the best apology I'm going to be able to get out of her."

"It's alright, I accept it," Kimberly told him, nodding.

"Good. So, who's up for lunch? I don't feel like helping Jason keep on eye on Conner just now."

"Lunch sounds good," Trent agreed. Kira and Kimberly nodded, and Tommy lead them into a nearby deli.

* * *

"Adam?" Zack suddenly paused hearing his friend curse and then suddenly take off. He grabbed Billy by the collar, and started dragging Billy in the same direction as the second black ranger, muttering under his breath about people randomly running away from them. However, Adam seemed to have gotten a head start, and Billy and Zack arrived just in time to see two taxi's go speeding off into the distance. "Why? Why does this stupid crazy stuff always have to happen to us?" Zack asked Billy, leaning forward on his knees, trying to catch his breath after the unexpected sprint through the trees.

"PUTTIES!" Billy had been about to say something when the unexpected yell broke through his concentration, and suddenly Zack was gone.

"Oh for the love of Zordon!" Billy muttered, trying to assess as quickly as he could what direction Zack had taken off in. He swore under his breath that he would eventually teach his friends how to think before they acted. He really would have thought that by the time he'd lived into his mid twenties, they'd all be intelligent enough to assess the situation before springing into action. But no! He had to have friends that ran first before yelling, that punched first before asking questions, and that opened their mouths before thinking. And now, once again, he was sprinting across the park after some deranged black ranger. He was beginning to think what ever had gotten into the two of them was contagious.

Then suddenly Zack was gone. He'd turned the corner, and he'd just seemingly disappeared. "Oh, this is so not good," Billy remarked, stopping and taking a deep breath. He leaned against a tree, trying to figure out his next move.

Meanwhile, Zack hadn't exactly disappeared, he'd ducked behind a tree and grabbed his morpher, still listening to the sound of children screaming about putties. Adam, Conner, and Ethan, were the last things on his mind as he shifted the morpher into his right hand, and called out for the mastodon's power. A second later, in his place stood a fully morphed black power ranger, who took off running once again, noticing Billy had stopped following him.

It didn't take Zack long to find the source of the shouting. He'd narrowed the area down to a small clearing just through a thicket of trees. With a running start, he launched himself over a park bench and straight into the clearing, landing in a kneel position in what he though would have been a group of putties terrorizing children. What he saw however caused him blush bright red inside his helmet. Standing in front of him were four young boys and two young girls, all wearing paper masks in white, black, blue, red, yellow, and pink swinging their arms and legs around at invisible clay brains. They paused their game at the sudden arrival of an actual power ranger, and stared up at him.

"Uh… hi." Zack mumbled, standing straight up, and running on gloved hand over the back of his helmet as he tried to figure out what to do next.

Still, the children stared at him. The one in the white mask, stepping forward slightly, and touching Zack's leg with one finger as if unsure he was real. Zack jumped back at the same time as the kid did.

"POWER RANGER!" The child finally screamed, and Zack instantly recognized the voice as the same one that had screamed about putties seconds before.

"Oh crap," Zack muttered, spinning on his heals and taking off running in the opposite direction, the six children hot on his heals.

Zack was doing an awful lot of running today, and he wasn't very happy about it. Now he wasn't running after something, but rather away from power ranger crazed children, who'd he'd been stupid enough to think were actually being threatened by putties. Why his common sense hadn't taken over at that point, he wasn't sure, but he figured it had something to do with Conner and Ethan randomly disappearing and followed by Adam. He hated not understanding what was going on, and he'd been so confused by it all, that his reflexes said act first, question later. It had always sort of worked well for him as a teenager, leaving the questioning to Jason, Billy, Tommy, Trini, and Kimberly. They gave the orders, he followed them. He never really needed to think things through, save when the others were temporarily incapacitated.

Zack lead the children through a maze of trees, and over a few bridges, jumping over a stream or so as he went; and judging from the increasing sound behind him, the children weren't the only ones who were chasing him. So now Zack was at the head of a psychotic power ranger chase, with no solution in sight. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to get out of this one with his identity in tact, because the people behind him certainly weren't giving up.

"Why me!" he asked, repeating his question from earlier. He was beginning to wonder if the universe wasn't just out to get Tommy, but rather every single one of them, who had once held the powers to save the earth. Searching for an escape, he leapt straight across a ditch, hoping it would slow the growing mob behind him down enough so he could escape, and crashed through a thick layer of trees. As he emerged, he caught sight of Billy stuffing his phone into his pocket, and weaved a bit so that he was right in line with the very stunned former blue ranger. "Hi Billy! Bye Billy!" Zack called out as he continued running. Billy watched him go, his mouth gaping open as he watched the whole mob run by, his eyes as wide as dishes.

Billy kept trying to mouth something, but for some reason he just couldn't find the words. Instead he just turned back around and went chasing after both Zack and the crowd of people behind him, trying to come up with some sort of solution to the Black Ranger being chased problem that they were now confronted with. Unfortunately, Conner, Adam, and Ethan would have to wait to be found.

* * *

Ethan approached the lobby desk after stumbling from Conner's push. He'd already cast an accusing glare at his friend who'd just smiled back innocently. Ethan sighed and rang the bell, before turning back to Conner while he waited for service.

Neither teen had to wait very long as the man who'd spoken to Rocky the day before about the cleaning lady, Kelly, approached them. "How can I help you, young men?"

"Uh, One of our friends locked himself out of his room. He sent us down to get a spare key."

"Alright, and what would this friend's name be?"

"Rocky DeSantos," Ethan rattled off.

"Birthdate?" the man behind the counter asked. Ethan thought for a second than rattled off the date quickly, as if it were common knowledge. Inwardly he thanked Tommy for having compiled those video diaries of all the former ranger teams. He hadn't even realized he had the information, until he was asked for it. Funny how the human mind can be triggered by the simplest stimuli.

The man simply nodded, and typed a few things into the key board. "And last but not least, password?"

"Password?" Ethan repeated, frantic this time.

"Red Ape," Conner stated. The man behind the counter smiled and handed them the key card.

"Thank you. Have a nice day," he said, before going back to his business.

"How did you know that was Rocky's password?" Ethan asked his friend as the two of them got into the elevator that would take them to Rocky and Aisha's room. Conner shrugged.

"I listen sometimes," he remarked, causing Ethan to laugh as they got off and walked towards the room. "Ok, you keep look out," he said once they were inside. Ethan nodded, locking the door, behind them. He then made sure he could see through the room's small peep hole, and waited as Conner moved around the room.

Twenty minutes later they still hadn't found what they were looking for. Conner was about to give up, when he spotted the safe inside the closet. "Oh course," he mumbled to himself. "Ethan, what do you think Rocky's safe code would be?"

"How am I supposed to know? It's not lock he's going to use something like 1-2-3-4," Ethan replied, still looking out the peep hole. Conner moved to the safe, shrugged and input the four digits Ethan had rattled off. The teenager former blue ranger listened to the sequence of four beeps followed by the sound of the locks sliding out of place. "You've got to be kidding," Ethan laughed, as Conner grinned and eased the door open. Inside he found a decent sized boxed, which he slid out of its holding place, and set it down on the bed.

"Anyone coming?" Conner asked Ethan. The other teen shook his head, but turned his attention back to the door just in case. Conner pulled the boxes lid off, and smiled, as he pulled a red suit, boots, gloves, and helmet out of the box. Beneath it was a similar suit, this time in yellow. Somehow he didn't think Kira would be willing to help, so he didn't bother removing this. Instead, he placed the boxes lid back in place and put the box back in the safe, exactly as he'd found it.

"Did you get it?" Ethan asked him, still not taking his eyes off the hallway outside.

"Got it," Conner replied, sliding the suit underneath his shirt, and wishing they'd thought to bring a bag. "Go get me a towel," he told Ethan, who immediately left his post, disappeared into the bathroom, and returned with one of the largest towels. Conner used it to wrap up the helmet and the boots, then shoved the gloves into his pockets, and held the towel like a ball in his arms. "Ok, all set?"

Ethan pulled the door open a bit, while Conner made sure the safe door was locked and the rest of the room looked just as it did when they'd first arrived. Ethan cast a quick look up and down the hallway, then signaled to Conner that the coast was clear and the two of them booked it back to their own room, looking like nothing more than a pair of crazy teenagers running in the hall.

Once they'd reached their own room, Conner opened their own safe, and emptied his shirt, pockets, and the towel into it, while Ethan unlocked the connecting door to Tommy's room. "I can't believe we just stole Rocky's power ranger suit," Ethan remarked over his shoulder.

"I can't believe what we're going to do with it," Conner laughed. "Hopefully it'll adjust," he added, as he and Ethan slipped into Tommy's room. Ethan used the code Tommy'd given him to get into the safe in order to get his lap top, which he figured would be safer in his room than the teens. "We just have to hope Dr. O doesn't go into the safe until after tomorrow."

"I don't think he will. He's got too much to be concerned with tonight and tomorrow to even be worried about ranger stuff," Ethan put in as Conner removed the box he'd seen earlier in the week warning him to keep out. He snickered at the warning, pulled the box out and open, and removed the entire white ranger suit, including Saba.

"If this works, it's going to be so cool," Conner laughed, as they placed the box back and locked the safe, then retreated back to their own room, adding Tommy's uniform to Rocky's and sealing their own safe.

"So now what?" Conner asked, sitting down on his bed.

"Now I think we try to get back to the park before Dr. O finds out we left."

"You think we can persuade Jason and Trini not to tell him?" They double checked their room, then left, heading towards the entrance of the hotel and the taxi's that usually waited outside.

"We can only hope," Ethan told him. They really had to hope.

* * *

Ok so half the things that happened in this chapter weren't initially planned, but as I've said countless times, this story is literally writing itself at some points. I hope you all enjoyed. I promise there is still much more to come, including what exactly Tommy and Kimberly took Kira and Trent to do, Why Aisha and Rocky went to the air port, and What Conner and Ethan are planning to do – if they survive.

Fateless Wanderer


	24. Too Much Stress

So obviously I didn't get all the chapters I wanted posted before I left. I'm very sorry about that, but now back to the typing. You all will be pleased to know that long bus rides in the hills of Scotland provide plenty of opportunity to come up with plot ideas (that is when not playing random bus games with your fellow classmates). Thus, onward.

* * *

Billy, not wanting to draw any more attention to the massive crowd trailing the black ranger than there already was, continued to run after them, but at a much slower speed, trying to formulate a plan on how to fix the problem that Zack had unfortunately created for himself.

While he was annoyed at this odd turn of events, he couldn't exactly say he was surprised. Things had been going fairly normally, if you didn't count Trini's flight to the roof of the building the previous night, meaning that they had been due for some chaos, or rather insanity that always seemed to plague them. However, this time it wasn't the universes fault. It was Zack's and as soon as Billy figured out how to save him, he was going to tear him limb from limb.

The time he was supposed to meet Jason and Trini had already gone by, and the former unmorphed blue ranger was getting more than a bit annoyed. He knew he could keep running, probably far longer than the civilians chasing Zack, and he also knew Zack could keep running due to the power boost from the suit, but he didn't want this to drag on that long. There was bound to be at least one person in that crowd who could continue running for a long period of time. Thus, reaching into his pocket with only a half formulated plan, Billy skidded to a halt, pretending to be winded as he brought his clasped hand to his mouth, and pressed a button on his communicator.

"I'm going to kill you when this is over," he stated blankly into the device.

"Billy? Man! What I am supposed to do?"

"You shouldn't have morphed in the first place," came the reply. "And don't say my name. I don't want to be dragged into this."

"So are you going to help me or insult me?"

"Both." There was a slight pause, during which Billy figured Zack was rolling his eyes, still leading probably 80 of the parks population around in circles. "Alright, let me think a minute. Ok, do you think you can keep them running for a bit longer?"

"I'll see what I can do. But hurry."

"Quit complaining." Billy instantly cut the transmission and stood up, searching his surroundings. There, in the distance were exactly the two people he would need. Jason and Trini were coming towards him, although they had paused, hearing loud shouts off in the distance. Billy began jogging toward them, a smile on his face so as not to draw attention to the fact that he was no longer chasing the black ranger like everyone else. "Jase! Trini!" he called, coming to a stop beside them.

"Billy, what's going on?" Trini asked, observing the fake smile plastered on his face. "Why are all those people running and shouting?"

"Oh them. They're chasing after the black ranger."

"WHAT!" Trini yelled, causing both Billy and Jason to wince. "What the hell was he thinking, morphing like that in a crowded park. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to rip his insides out through his mouth and hang him from a tree. A guillotine would be too good for him now."

"If you want to kill him, we're going to have to save him first," Billy explained, while Jason placed a hand over Trini's mouth to quiet her down. Good thing everyone's attention was on Zack, or her little outburst would have attracted the interest of the whole park.

"I take it you have a plan?" Jason asked him.

"It's still in the planning part, but it's better than nothing."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Trini asked, rolling her eyes. "Do you need both of us, or just Jason."

"Well, I'd prefer if only Jason actually morphed, since the Red ranger has already been seen and we don't need to add the yellow ranger to the group of spotted rangers. But I still need your help. Think you can act pretty convincingly?"

"If I have to," she replied, rolling her eyes. Billy grinned.

"Alright, here's what we do."

A few minutes later, Jason was standing sitting on the windowsill of the rarely used men's bathroom, ready to pull himself up onto the roof and morph at Billy's signal, while Billy and Trini stood a good distance away pretending to hold a conversation. Billy's back was too the men's room, while Trini was facing it.

Billy suddenly pretended to cough, once again, raising his communicator to his mouth. "Bring them toward the bathroom on the east end of the park. Don't ask questions, just do it. Once the attention is off you, hide!"

He lowered his hand and the two continued their conversation as if nothing had happened, although Billy was intently staring over Trini's shoulder, waiting for Zack to appear. And appear he did. It was like a black bullet flying out of a mass of trees. The crowd behind him followed with a nearly deafening roar. If their identities weren't at stake at the moment, it would have been hysterical.

The moment he saw Zack, Billy pressed the button for Jason's communicator, which beeped in his pocket. Jason instantly morphed and pulled himself in one swift movement up onto the roof of the men's room. As if his presence alone wasn't enough, Trini suddenly gasped and pointed

"It's the red ranger!"

That's absolutely all it took to get the entire crowd behind Zack to skid to a halt and look where she pointed at the half posed red ranger standing on top of the men's room, grabbing hold of a tree branch and pulling himself up. Zack, the moment attention was off him and onto Jason, did as he was commanded. Unfortunately the only hiding place was a nearby dumpster, so groaning, the black ranger tossed himself inside and demorphed, thanking whoever it was that was controlling their little puppet show that the dumpster was relatively empty.

Meanwhile, the stunned crowd watched as the red ranger leapt from tree to tree until he was completely out of sight, leaving the population very confused. Once out of sight, Jason searched for a landing sight, and demorphed, dropping down in the very clearing that had started the whole mess. By the time he reached Billy and Trini, most of the crowd had dispersed, but for appearances sake, he casually asked what happened, and was told, by a very content Trini.

"Where's Zack?" Jason asked, once they were all alone. The other two shrugged, not really knowing where the former black ranger had chosen to hide. However, upon hearing his name, and figuring the coast was clear, the former ranger dragged himself out of the dumpster, catching the attention of his three former teammates. "You hid in a dumpster?"

"Well there was no where else to hide! What did you want me to?"

"I thought you would have hidden behind a tree or something," Billy told him. "Ok, Trini, you can kill him now."

"No way. I'm not going anywhere near him until he's had a shower. Zack, you reek."

"Well, at least one good thing came of jumping in the dumpster," Zack replied, grinning, and following several feet behind as the three led the way back to the cars, discussing what to do about the missing Adam, Conner and Ethan.

* * *

Aisha and Rocky stood toward the back wall of the Angel Grove airport baggage claim. While they'd thought that they were going to be late, luck had it, at least in Rocky's case, that the plane they were waiting for had been delayed an hour. As a result, the two former rangers had gone to the little café and had lunch, the remains of which were still in their hands as they waited.

"Should we call the others and tell them why we're running late?" Aisha asked Rocky, taking a sip of her coffee. Rocky stood a bit in front of her, staring up at the arrivals screen.

"No need, their plane just landed. We can call Tommy on the way back," he told her, turning back around. "Something just occurred to me," he told her.

"What?"

"I'm going to have to carry all the luggage, aren't I?" he asked, tossing his empty coffee cup in a nearby trash can. Aisha just grinned at him innocently.

"AISHA!" a yell came from the escalator in front of them. Aisha peered out from around Rocky's figure, a huge smile on her face as Kat and Tanya ran down the last few steps, pushing past the other people in their rush. Rocky groaned slightly, but smiled as well as he turned around to greet the last two remaining members of their group.

"You two look great," Aisha told them, grabbing both girls in a huge hug. As she released them, Kat through her arm around Rocky. He hugged her back with one arm, while Aisha grabbed hold of his other.

"So, how heavy are your bags?" he asked the two of them, causing both girls to laugh, although they didn't answer, which wasn't a good sign.

"Where's Adam?" Tanya asked as the four headed towards the luggage belts.

"We thought it'd be great to surprise him. He's got no clue you're here," she told her successor. Tanya just grinned wider.

"It'll be great, but I was hopping I'd get the chance to see him today."

"Tanya just wants to get him in bed," Kat explained, causing her best friend to blush, and Aisha to laugh. Rocky was to busy trying to locate his friends luggage.

"Hey guys. This would be easier if I knew what your suitcases looked like," he called back to them.

Twenty minutes later the four of them had piled into Rocky's car and were headed back towards the hotel. They'd gotten lucky that someone had canceled a room last minute, and Aisha had booked it for Kat and Tanya's arrival.

"So where is everyone else?" Kat asked, leaning forward.

"Kimberly and Tommy took two of Tommy's students to finish up last minute shopping for tomorrow. The other's are at Stone Canyon Park."

"Speaking of the other's," Rocky cut in. "Maybe we should call? Tell them we're running a bit late?"

"Ok, I'll call Billy." Aisha pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number. "Hey."

"Hi," Billy responded. He sounded slightly upset.

"Uh-oh, what happened?"

"What happened? What happened? Oh, nothing except the world is still falling apart."

"Sounds like we missed something big," Aisha laughed.

"You did," Billy agreed. "Want the short version?"

"Yes please."

"Well, Conner and Ethan snuck away, we split up to find them. Lost Adam at some point, Zack morphed and got chased all over the park by power ranger crazed people, and Jason just got done morphing to save him. But beyond that, it's been a pretty normal day."

"You lost Adam?"

"That's the part you're concerned about? Yes, we lost Adam. He's not answering his phone, wherever he is. But we'll find him. Did you finish what you needed to do?" Billy asked, trying to be discrete. Jason and Trini still didn't know where they'd gone.

"We're headed to the hotel to drop them off now. There was a delay."

"Well, you may as well just meet us back at the hotel. We're going to find out wayward friends then wait for Kim and Tommy."

"Sounds like a plan. See you in a few hours."

"See you then," Billy agreed, hanging up the phone. Aisha just shook her head as she hung up the phone.

"They lost Adam?" Tanya asked, concern and amusement obvious in her voice. Aisha just nodded.

"That's not the weirdest part. Apparently Zack morphed and the black ranger got chased all over the park. Jason had to morph to save him. And it all started because the last two of Tommy's protégés disappeared."

"You're kidding?" Kat asked, laughing. "Wish I could have seen it."

"I have a feeling this isn't the last time something crazy will happen," Rocky told her.

"How do you figure?" Tanya put in.

"Oh, Aisha hasn't told you about the past week? Well, where should we start," Rocky laughed before beginning to tell the pink and yellow zeo rangers everything that happened.

* * *

"And that's how I ended up here," Adam finally finished the story of his week. "Where is here anyway?"

"The town doesn't really have a name. Most people just call it Nowheres."

"And it just gets more interesting," Adam, sighed, taking another sip of his eighth cup of tea.

"It does sound like you've had it rough," Miss Agatha laughed, leaning back in her chair. "How exactly does one end up trying to save a friend from a malfunctioning rock climbing rope?"

"You have to have friends like mine," Adam replied as the drier finally stopped. He had to admit, sitting in the small laundry mat drinking tea and telling all of his problems to Miss Agatha had actually made him feel better. Although he was starting to wonder if she might have spiked his drink.

"And your girlfriend, she sounds wonderful."

"She is," he agreed.

"You miss her a lot, I take it."

"Yeah; but I shouldn't complain. She's visiting a friend who broke her leg about three months ago. And my friends here are great company," Adam insisted.

"So maybe you haven't got it as bad as you thought," she suggested.

"Maybe," he laughed as she got up to get his clothes from the dryer, and suggested he get dressed while offering to call him a cab.

Adam accepted the offer, and retreated back into the small restroom to change back into his now clean clothing, feeling much more relaxed and refreshed. "Adam! The cab will be here in five minutes. You'd best hurry!" Miss Agatha called to him. The former ranger sighed and left the sanctuary of the bathroom, returning in time to help his hostess clean up the table they'd used. By the time they were done, the cab was waiting outside.

"Thanks for everything," Adam told her, as she walked him to the door.

"No problem. It's what I do," she replied, giving him her characteristic creepy smile. He shuddered a bit inside, but grinned in return.

"How often do you find soaking wet, miserable men standing in the middle of street having no idea where they are?"

"It happens more often than you'd think," she told him, waving as he got into the back of the cab. "Don't forget to put your phone's volume back up. Your friends have been trying to find you," she told him, before turning and disappearing back inside her business.

Adam dropped into the seat, and instructed the cab driver to take him back to the Angel Grove Inn, figuring it would best just to head back. He then pulled out his phone and was surprised to see that he had six missed calls. One was from Tommy, three were from Billy, one more from Aisha, and even one from Trini. Grinning at the fact that Miss Agatha had been right, and sort of wondering how she'd been right, Adam turned up the volume on his phone and figured the safest thing to do would be to call Billy back, as he leaned against the back seat.

* * *

Tommy pulled the car into the parking lot in a spot across from Jason's SUV. He took a quick glance around the area, and wasn't really surprised not to see anyone. After all, they'd never settled on a time to meet back up, but according to their schedule, they did need to be heading back to the Angel Grove Inn if the girls were going to make it to the restaurant Kimberly had made reservations at. He'd already tried calling Adam's cell phone and wasn't getting any response. When he'd reached Rocky, they had just picked up the others because the plane had been delayed.

"Maybe we should try calling them?" Kimberly suggested as the four of them walked over to the picnic table they'd all met up at earlier. Tommy climbed up onto it, and seated himself on the table as he started to pull out his phone, nodding to Kim.

"That might not be a good idea," Trent cut him off, looking a bit into the distance, a tone of dread in his voice.

"Why?" Kimberly asked the teenager who pointed into the distance where they could see the tops of trees and some of the various park buildings. Directly in front of them, a short distance away, on the roof of a building stood the original red ranger. Kimberly, Kira, and Tommy's mouths all dropped wide open. "Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is there a power ranger standing on a building?"

"I don't know."

"Dr. O?" Kira asked.

"What?"

"Why is that power ranger climbing into the trees?"

"Because the universe hates me," Tommy replied, clasping his head in his hands. He was beginning to think it was a very bad idea to leave his friends alone in places where they could get into trouble, which was turning out to be just about everywhere they went. Kimberly just started rubbing his back, muttering something about killing Jason as soon as she saw him. The two teenagers just looked at one another and plopped down on the bench to wait.

Luckily, they didn't have to wait very long, as twenty minutes later, Jason, Trini, and Billy emerged from the trees, Billy on the cell phone, while Zack trailed behind them. Billy hung up the phone and looked ahead of him, only to see a very concerned looking Kimberly, amused and bewildered dino thunder rangers, and a very enraged Tommy.

"Uh… hi. What's going on?" Billy asked him.

"You want to know what's going on?" Tommy's voice was calm, probably too calm to match the expressions on his face. Billy kind of gulped, while Zack hid behind Jason. Even Trini back up a little. "I'll tell you what's going on. I leave you all alone for one day yesterday and Conner gets arrested, Kira and Trent get locked inside the power chamber, and Aisha gets locked in the bathroom, only to be rescued later by a blaster."

"You heard about that?" Jason mumbled, casting a quick look at the two teenagers, who instantly looked away, innocently. Tommy just shook his head at being interrupted.

"I could handle all of that. Sure, most people wouldn't be able to. But I've had enough experience with weird things in my life. Yet somehow I always thought I was the cause, but now I rather think it's the rest of you. But do you know what I can't handle?"

"What?" Jason asked, sort of pushing him. He wasn't really enjoying his friends rant, and personally wanted to deck him, although after the promise he'd made the night before, he couldn't bring himself to do it – even though Trent would be the only one who knew he'd broken it, and there were ways of keeping former rangers quiet.

"I can't handle coming back to the park where I thought I'd left my friends all in one piece, only to see a red power ranger standing on a building and leaping through trees, and then finding some of my friends walking back as if nothing had happened. Why? Why do you do this to me? Why does Zack smell like manure? And why aren't Adam, Conner, and Ethan with you?"

"Do you really want to know?" Trini asked him. By this point, Kimberly, Kira, and Trent had all backed away from Tommy who was still staring at his four former teammates with icey glares.

"I must be insane, but yes. I want to know what happened."

"Zack and Billy were chasing after Adam when Zack heard what he stupidly thought was a putty attack. Thus, being Zack, he took off running, morphed, and got himself involved in a children's game of make believe, which started probably the world's largest ever game of catch the ranger. Billy found Jason and I, and we used Jason as a distraction so Zack could get away and we could keep our identities secret once again. But Zack chose to make his get-a-way into dumpster, hence the smell. Anything else?"

Tommy just sort of plopped back down onto the picnic bench he'd jumped off of when the four had showed up, his head kind of spinning. He wanted to curse Zack into oblivion, or maybe it was Adam for causing the mess. But wait a minute, why were they chasing Adam, and he still didn't know where Adam and his other charges were.

"Do I want to know why you were chasing Adam?"

"That's simple," Zack finally told him, bringing up enough courage now that Tommy was calmer and knowing he could get the attention off himself. "Adam spotted Conner and Ethan getting into a cab."

"Cab? Conner and Ethan?" Tommy sputtered.

"Oh boy," Trent muttered to Kira, who nodded and then groaned. Why were her teammates such idiots. She really didn't understand it.

"They got into a cab?"

"Affirmative," Billy responded, causing Tommy to shake with anger even more than he already was. Kimberly had already moved to try and calm him down, while Trini was starting to do the same. The three guys kind of hung back a bit. Unfortunately, this is when Conner and Ethan decided to make their appearance back to the park, entering from roughly the same place that Jason, Trini, Billy, and Zack had.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Conner asked stupidly, not noticing Trent and Kira and being unable to spot Tommy or Kim behind the other four rangers. Jason whirled around to stare at the two of them before stepping aside to allow full view of the now furious former green/white/red/black ranger. "Oh crud," Conner muttered, backing up and raising his hands in defense, sort of like he might have done if confronted by a vicious bear that was ready to tear him apart.

"I just want to make it clear that this was all Conner's idea," Ethan blurted out, as Tommy slowly advanced on the two of them. Conner lost his footing and toppled backwards onto the ground, while attempting to grab Ethan's shoulder for support. All he managed to do was drag the bewildered blue ranger down on top of him.

"Please don't kill us," he managed to squeak out as Tommy came to a halt above him.

"I CAN NOT BELIEVE HOW INCREDIBLY STUPID YOU WERE! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT RUNNING OFF ON YOUR OWN A SECOND TIME! AFTER I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO. DID YOU LOSE YOUR BRAINS SOMETIME BETWEEN GRADUATION AND COMING HERE? YOU'D THINK I WAS BABYSITTING THREE YEAR OLDS, NOT EIGHTEEN YEAR OLDS. AND VETERANS AT THAT. YOU'D THINK YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED SOME SENSE IN THE TIME YOU SPENT IN UNIFORM. DID I TEACH YOU NOTHING?" Tommy whirled back around towards the table and his former teammates who had watched the entire outburst, anger still apparent in his eyes, but now it was coupled with shame and disgust. "You're both on the next bus back to Reefside, and I don't want to hear another word out of you."

"But Dr. O…"

"Not another word, Conner." That said, he turned back to the older members of the group. "What of Adam?"

"He's meeting us back at the hotel. As are Rocky and Aisha. They're all on our way there now," Billy replied in a very quiet, astounded voice. In all the time he'd known Tommy, he'd never seen such a look of hatred in his eyes, save the time he'd told Kimberly that he would destroy her and the other rangers while under Rita's spell. He didn't like it. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, nearly shrugging Kimberly's hand off his shoulder when she placed it there. He did manage to stop himself. "Let's go." He led the way back to the parking lot as Trent and Kira went to help Conner and Ethan off the ground.

"What were you thinking?" Kira hissed at them once they were on their feet and trailing behind the adults. Ethan shook his head.

"We were thinking about protecting Dr. O's identity."

"What?" Trent asked Conner, looking at him as if he were the biggest idiot in the world.

"Bulk and Skull. They're on to Dr. O and Jason. They plan to unmask them next Saturday unless we throw them off the trail," Conner elaborated.

"Maybe you should just tell Dr. O this instead of taking it in your own hands. It would be safer than getting yourselves killed by him." Kira pointed out.

"We will if our plan on Saturday doesn't work," Ethan told her.

"News flash; I'm pretty sure the next bus for Reefside leaves before tomorrow morning," Kira replied, slightly annoyed.

"We'll just have to get him to change his mind. Although I'm not exactly sure how to do that at the moment," Conner replied, sighing. It was going to be one very long ride back to Angel Grove.

* * *

Back at the hotel, Adam wandered into the lobby, only to find Rocky and Aisha seated at a small table in the corner, picking from a platter of cheese and crackers. He laughed a bit when they saw him and waved him over.

"This is the place you wanted to bring him?" he asked Aisha, who just laughed in response.

"Of course not," she replied, pulling him towards an empty chair beside her. "So, I heard they lost you? Or did you disappear intentionally?"

"Yeah, frog boy. What'd you do all day?"

Adam grinned in response and stole a cracker from Aisha's hand, popping it into his mouth. "Didn't get lost on purpose; stayed lost on purpose though. Met a nice woman."

"You did what?" Rocky asked, astounded, and slightly horrified.

"Yeah, she was about sixty years old and her smile was creepy. But she was wonderful."

"Adam, what about Tanya?" Aisha asked, sharing Rocky's feelings.

"What? Oh, you thought that… no, no way. Eww," Adam grimced. "No, Miss Agatha just laundered my clothes and served me tea while we talked."

"You took off your clothes?"

"Well, they were sopping wet," Adam told them. "And before you think about anything else even remotely disgusting, they were wet because some idiot splashed gutter water all over me, and she lent me a grey sweat suit to wear while my clothes were in the wash."

"Did you even think about where she got the sweat suit?" Rocky asked him.

"I tried not to think about that. Anyway, where is everyone else?"

"They're on their way back. Kimberly called and said they were about 10 minutes away," Aisha told him.

"How long ago?"

"Oh, about twenty minutes ago," Rocky laughed, then grinned. "Which could be why they're just walking in now." He waved towards Jason who had entered with Trini. Everyone else followed, Conner and Ethan very dejectedly bringing up the rear.

"Wow, you all look horrible," Aisha commented, hugging Trini around the shoulder.

"That's cause men are stupid," Trini replied.

"Not all men," Kimberly laughed, getting a nod of agreement from Kira. She relatched herself onto Tommy's arm, who gave her a quick smile. Aisha and Trini stared at her for a moment, then shook their heads.

"I've still had it with boys. I don't want to see them for the rest of the night," Trini said. "No offence Jase, but I need a break."

"None taken," Jason laughed, kissing her forehead.

"Kim, why don't you change the dinner reservations we made for tonight. You already have to since Conner and Ethan won't be coming," Tommy began. Conner and Ethan looked away. They'd pleaded and begged the entire way back and succeeded in being allowed to stay in Angel Grove and only being grounded for the night. Granted this was probably because Tommy couldn't find the bus schedule. "You girls take restaurant; We'll find something else to do."

"You made reservations? For what?" Trini asked them suspiciously.

"To celebrate," Kimberly told her, grinning. "But we'll do that another night."

"Are you sure?" Aisha asked. Kimberly nodded.

"Yeah, it'll be girls' night out. I'll go change the reservations and I'll meet you upstairs to change."

"Ok," Trini agreed. "What's the dress?"

"Oh, um… nothing too formal. Just dressy casual."

"Now I'm really glad we're not going," Jason remarked. "I don't want to get dressed up," he added when Kimberly hit him, before taking out her cell phone and heading over to the pay phones where the phone books were located. The others retreated up the stairs.

* * *

"Kimberly, for god sakes, are you done in there?" Trini asked, about an hour and a half later, knocking on the bathroom door. She and Kira were dressed and ready to go and were now waiting on the sole former pink ranger to finish up in the bathroom; and she'd already been in there for a half hour.

"I'm hurrying."

"Hurry faster," Trini returned, taking a seat on the bed and sighing. She was still irritated and tired, but the thought of having a glass or two, or maybe three of wine at dinner had already put her in better spirits than she'd been after rescuing Zack and chasing teenagers across a crowded park.

"Does she always take this long?" Kira asked her. She was laying back on her bed, arms folded behind her head, staring up at the ceiling.

"Only for as long as I've know her. She was the only kindergartener that wouldn't leave the house until her hair was perfect, and her lunch box matched her shoes," Trini laughed. As she and Kira continued to talk and occasionally try to hurry Kimberly along, a knock sounded on the door. "That would Aisha," Trini told the younger yellow who nodded. "Kim, you'd better hurry. Aisha's here."

"I'm almost finished," Kimberly shouted back. Trini just shook her head and lay back on Kimberly's bed as Kira went to the door to answer it. When Kira pulled the door back, not one but two women stood beyond it both dressed for a night on the town.

"Uh, hi. Can I help you?" Kira asked. Trini, who couldn't see Kira from her position, frowned slightly at the fact that it wasn't Aisha beyond the door.

"Yes," the taller, blonde woman stated in a thick accent that Kira couldn't quite place, although she thought it might have been Australian. "We were told this was Kimberly Hart's room. Have we come to the wrong place?"

"Uh.. no, but.." Kira began, slightly confused. By this time, Trini had jumped off the bed and appeared directly behind Kira.

"Oh my god! Kat! Tanya! What are you doing here?" Trini exclaimed, having no clue about Aisha and Rocky's earlier trip to the airport.

"We thought we'd come and surprise everyone," Tanya told her, as the first yellow ranger admitted the two women into the room.

"Kimberly," Trini called once more.

"I'll be done in a minute," Kimberly shouted back.

"Kimberly, hurry up and get out here," Kat tried, which actually got the result of the door being thrust open.

"KAT!" Kimberly squealed in excitement, rushing out of the bathroom. Kira just sort of stared; the pink ranger looked done to her, but then again, she definitely wasn't similar to Kimberly in fashion style in any way. Kimberly, Trini, Tanya, and Kat were talking a mile a minute, and Kira just let the whole thing sink in as she had earlier in the week when she'd first met Aisha, Rocky, and Adam. Thus, she rather quickly figured out that Tanya and Kat were the yellow and pink Zeo power rangers, although Kat had, for a short time, been the second pink ranger, when Kim handed down her power coin. She wasn't sure exactly how Tanya had gotten her powers, but she knew enough to be able to gather that she was Aisha's successor.

"I guess you're all too busy to say hi to me," Aisha stated from the doorway where she leaned against the doorframe. Kat and Tanya whirled around as if they were surprised to see her, and only moments later the conversation resumed. Kira gave up trying to get a word into the conversation taking place in front of her and sat back down on her bed, to wait.

About five minutes later Kimberly happened to cast a glance in Kira's direction. The teenager raised her eyebrows in amusement, causing Kim to blush at their rudeness. "Hey, guys. You have to meet Kira," Kim stated, pulling Kat and Tanya away from their description of the flights from London to New York, and then New York to Angel Grove.

"Kira?"

"Yeah, she's one of Tommy's students," Aisha added, going behind the teenager and placing her hands on her shoulders. "And teammates," she added in.

"Teammates," Tanya laughed. "You're kidding? Tommy was back in a brightly colored costume kicking evil alien ass again?"

"Mutant dinosaur this time," Kira told her. "He was black. I was yellow," she added.

"The perfect color," Tanya agreed.

"Hey!" Kat and Kimberly argued. Kimberly grinned, glad to finally have someone to back her up. "So, how many on your team?" Kat asked the teenager.

"Five total. Myself, Dr. O," Kira began.

"That's what Tommy goes by to the kids," Trini informed them.

"Then there's Trent, our evil white ranger turned good, Ethan was blue, and Conner was our red leader," Kira added.

"Was? No powers anymore?" Kat asked her.

"Unfortunately, no."

"You had a Tommy clone?" Tanya laughed. Kimberly, Trini, and Aisha all laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, but come on. If we don't leave now, we'll loose our reservations," Kimberly stated.

"You're going out to dinner?" Tanya asked. Trini nodded.

"Kim, is there anyway we could get two more seats; I mean, if you want to come," Aisha asked.

"Definitely. I'll call in the car."

"I didn't think you were finished in the bathroom," Trini commented. Kim just glared at her, and shoved her lipstick in her purse.

"I'm done now," she affirmed, and pushed past, leading the way out of the room. Kira snatched the two room keys off the dresser and followed last, trying to catch up to Kimberly to hand her the key she'd forgotten.

* * *

Jason sighed as he pulled his hair brush through his still slightly damp hair while he waited for Tommy. He could hear the former multicolored ranger in the room next door giving Conner and Ethan last minute instructions about their grounding. Basically they couldn't leave the room for any reason other than that the hotel was on fire, and then they had to be absolutely certain that they would die if there was. Trent was seated in one of the chairs, flipping through a magazine he'd "stolen" from the lobby.

Tommy finally joined the two of them, and pushed Jason aside from the mirror. "Where are we going, anyway," Jason asked, once Tommy finished getting ready.

"A club I saw the other day on the way to the youth center."

"Why?"

"Because it's either that or stay here, and the last time we stayed here, bad things happened," Tommy informed him, double checking that his room key was in his wallet. "And I am definitely not in the mood to be beaten with a broom again."

"You sure, Dr. O? It sounded like you all had fun that night," Trent said, smiling. Tommy shot him a death glare, but grinned as well.

"You shouldn't make fun of those who came before you," Jason told him.

"Why?"

"Because… because… Tommy tell him why he shouldn't make fun of us."

"Because we're older, stronger, and wiser."

"And because some of us still have access to a megazord," Rocky's voice joined in from the door that they'd left slightly propped open. "Mind if we come in?"

"Hey guys," Jason answered, nodding. Rocky entered, followed by Adam, Zack, and Billy.

"So we're all ready to go?" Billy asked, not coming all the way in. If he did, he was fairly sure that they would never make it out the door, and he really was looking forward to a night out on the town.

"I'm set," Tommy agreed, getting nods from the others.

"Ok, who's driving?" Zack asked. "I mean, we are going to a club."

"I'll drive Rocky's car," Adam agreed.

"And I can drive Dr. O's if he lets me," Trent put in. Tommy considered it for a moment, but considering that Trent couldn't drink, and that out of all his young teammates, he considered Trent most trustworthy, after Kira at least, he nodded agreement.

"Alright then. Lets go," Rocky laughed, leading the way out of the hotel room, leaving behind two very disappointed teenagers in the room next door.

"If you leave, I will find out," Tommy said, sticking his head into their room quickly. Both boys agreed that they wouldn't, and satisfied, Tommy followed his friends. It was going to be one very long night.

* * *

Ok, so originally this chapter was going to be what took place at the restaurant and the club, but due to events of the last chapter, everything is being pushed forward one chapter. Which means that chapter 25 was supposed to be Saturday morning, but that will now be chapter 26. Hopefully that didn't confuse anyone. And yes, Aisha and Kimberly were acting. They both knew Tanya and Kat were coming. Kira knew they were coming as well, but she was still slightly confused. Hope that resolves any questions. Maybe things are slowly starting to be revealed for Saturday's big events. Thanks in advance for any reviews.

Fateless Wanderer


	25. Women are from Venus Men are from Mars

Ok, so the following is actually an early birthday present to me. Yes, I can totally give myself a birthday present if I feel like it. Saturday, I will officially be 21.

So my little announcement aside, how about I continue with the story? Sounds good.

* * *

"So I really didn't think we could all fit in there," Trini remarked as she pulled herself out of the backseat of Kimberly's car, stretching out her cramped back.

"We couldn't have if I hadn't ridden on Aisha's lap," Kira remarked. "By the way, isn't that illegal?"

"Um… I think so," Tanya told her, smiling.

"Uh…" Kira just sort of paused.

"What?" Kim asked, tossing her car keys into her purse and closing it up.

"Power Rangers," Kira informed them, looking a tad bit surprised at the older women's nonchalant attitudes.

"Former Rangers," Kat told her as Trini slung her arms over Kira's shoulders. "Besides, without the guys around, we don't have to be better than anyone," she added.

"So the idea is to be better than the guys?"

"You've got it," Trini told her, "now come on. I'm starved." The first yellow ranger lead the group of six into the Lotus Blossom, the Chinese restaurant that Kimberly had made reservations at. She allowed the shorter pink ranger to approach the waitress stand, slowly realizing that she never noticed Kimberly call to change the reservations a second time. However, the woman wasn't surprised when Kimberly informed her that the reservations were for six under the name Hart. Trini shrugged, figuring that her best friend must have called when she wasn't paying attention.

Conversation instantly resumed once they were seated at a table right beside the window. The restaurant was crowded enough so that they could have a private conversation at not worry about being overheard due to the volume within the building. However, they did decide that it'd be best to keep their voices down, as they were now only about a week away from the big celebration.

"Pink is so much better than yellow," Kimberly replied simply. If anyone overheard them, she was sure that they would think they were only bickering over the colors just as everyone else did on a regular basis. "Think about it."

"I have," Trini told her, rolling her eyes. "And it's sort of obvious just by the amount of yellows at this table that yellow is better."

"No, that just means pink is more exclusive," Kat informed her.

"So not true," Tanya laughed. "It means no one wants to be pink."

"They do too. I bet Kira wanted to be pink,"

"Um… I kinda actually… well no."

"See, she wanted to be yellow," Aisha laughed.

"Actually, I didn't want to be either. I didn't really want to be a power ranger in the first place. Or rather, I didn't even know that I was going to be a ranger. It wasn't exactly a choice."

"Ok…" Aisha replied, looking at her as if she had two heads. "No choice?"

"No choice. Dr. O's stupid gems just sort of bonded to us. It was either become a power ranger and fight, or die at the hands of Mesagog because he wanted the gems, and the only way to get them would be to kill us. Lesson learned: Do not touch strange glowy stones in the middle of a strange under ground lair."

"Underground lair?" Kat asked.

"Mmmhmm," Kimberly nodded. "Tommy had a hidden underground lair; he's also the one responsible for all of their enemies."

"What?" Tanya asked with a laugh. "How could Tommy possibly create anything remotely dangerous."

"He swears it was an accident," Trini told them.

"Accident or not, it's still his fault," Kira replied as the waitress came to collect their drink orders. Kira happily ordered a sprite for herself, while Kimberly, Aisha, Tanya, and Kat each ordered a glass of red wine. Trini got a beer. When the others looked at her questioningly, she just shrugged and claimed she'd gotten used to it living with Jason.

"How can you stand it though?" Tanya asked, laughing. She only knew Trini through Jason and she'd been shocked to hear from Aisha that the two were married.

"Stand what?" Trini laughed.

"Being married? I mean Jason's great and all, but I don't think I'm ready to tie the knot," Tanya replied.

"It certainly is different," Trini replied. "There's more laundry to do; maybe a bit more cooking, but Jason shares it. It really doesn't phase me as being all that different. I mean, we went to the peace conference together for a while and we grew up together. And there's also the fact that we lived together for a bit before we got married. Jason's been one of my best friends since I was five, so honestly, after I realized I was in love with him, marriage was the obvious next step in our relationship."

"Not sex?" Kimberly asked her.

"Kimmy, we'd been sexually active since well we left."

"See, I would have guessed before hand," Kim winked at her.

"No, we did wait until then. It sort of felt wrong to do when we were rangers and supposed to be role models for everyone. Probably would have been a contradictory statement," Trini replied.

"Never stopped Kimberly and Tommy," Aisha laughed.

"I NEVER had SEX with TOMMY!" Kim nearly yelled, blushing bright red.

"Never?" Kat egged her on.

"Not once… at least not during our time as rangers."

"Eww… too much information, Kim. He was my teacher, remember?"

"Sorry Kira."

"So you're saying that you two really did," Trini started, unable to bring herself to ask the full question. Kimberly just smiled, trying to look as innocent as one can when they have a secret. "What the hell happened in the Power Chamber?" Once again, Kimberly just gave her the "I've got a secret" look.

"Power Chamber? Wait, what are you talking about? Kimberly and Tommy had sex? I'm officially confused," Kat asked, holding her head in her hands and taking a quick swig of her wine which made her feel better.

"Trini stranded Tommy and Kimberly out in the desert Wednesday night near the power chamber because all they were doing is fighting. Something happened, which Kimberly won't tell us about because she's being a little bitch," Aisha laughed, causing Kimberly to just grin.

"Or she's being merciful," Kira whinned. Aisha grinned at her.

"Anyway, what ever it was that happened caused Kimberly and Tommy to spend the day together, including a trip to the hospital because Tommy got knocked out by the town drunk. But the real story is, that ever since, Kimberly and Tommy have been acting like they did in highschool."

"I still don't get it," Trini whinned. "Come on, tell me."

"Trini, what did you want to happen?" Kimberly asked her, taking another sip of her drink and staring at her best friend. "Stop complaining and just be glad that it happened, alright?"

"But I want to know," Trini pouted. Kimberly just shook her head. The waitress was back to collect their dinner orders, and she really didn't want to get into it with Trini, especially because she wasn't telling the truth 100. Sure she'd decided that she really did have feelings for Tommy, and that she was even still in love with him, but she knew he wasn't in love with her, otherwise he would never have suggested they fake it. She also didn't want to think about the fact that in one week, it would be over, and they would stop pretending. She really wasn't looking forward to that.

* * *

Ethan sighed and turned his computer on, trying desperately to ignore the sounds coming from the bathroom. He stared at the blue glow of the computer screen, bored as the program took forward to load from when he typed in his password. For some reason the commotion in the other room seemed to be getting louder. Groaning, Ethan pushed himself away from the desk and wandered over to the bathroom. He leaned against the door way and watched as Conner was going through his own toiletry bag searching for something and every once and a while throwing it in a trash bag.

"What are you doing?" Ethan asked him, folding his arms across his chest and quirking an eyebrow at his teammate. He'd so far decided he'd had enough of Conner's ideas, and was sort of debating backing out of their mission tomorrow. His fingers itched to return Rocky's Ranger suit back to it's original location while the older men were out partying. He was fairly sure that a drunk Rocky would never even notice it gone. Perhaps a hung over one might not even realize it had been moved.

"Getting rid of deathly implements," Conner replied simply, not looking up. There wasn't a hint of joking in his voice. The former red ranger was entirely serious.

"Floss?" Ethan asked. Conner just nodded. "You know, he probably has some of his own. And if he was going to kill you, he'd probably use something a little more dangerous than floss. I mean, he does have access to his ninja and zeo powers. I'd hate to see what he could do with those."

Conner just whirled around and stared at Ethan, blinking like a deer in the head lights every few seconds, confused about where the conversation was going.

"Listen, maybe going ahead with the plan for tomorrow is a bad idea. Maybe Kira's right. Maybe we should just tell Dr. O that Bulk and Skull think that they're power rangers. I'm sure they could probably come up with a better solution."

"What could possibly be better than convincing them that they're wrong, when they're absolutely right. And I mean, Dr. O won't be able to kill us during it. And afterwards, we'll just explain and everything should be cool."

"I don't know," Ethan said, still thinking the whole thing over. Conner was his best friend, not to mention his leader, but something about this whole plan was getting to him. He certainly thought it might not be a good idea to see how much more trouble they could get in. After all, they were already grounded.

"Ethan, we'll be fine. Even Dr. O will understand why we had to do it. Now stop complaining and help me get rid of the floss."

"If you're so sure he's not going to kill us, why do we need to get rid of the floss?" Ethan asked.

"I don't think he'll kill us for tomorrow. I want insurance against anything else that might happen within the next week. I mean, we've only been here since last Saturday nigh and Dr. O's already threatened to kill me more times than I can count."

"That's because you constantly get into trouble," Ethan said, sighing and giving up on his friend, fearing Conner had completely gone over the deep end.

"Whatever," Conner muttered, diving into Ethan's bag, while Trent's waited on the counter beside the sink. He figured he'd have to raid Tommy and Jason's room once he was finished getting rid of anything that could cause him harm.

* * *

"Why me?'"

These were the words that Trent uttered. Ever since he'd gotten into the car with Tommy he'd been regretting not getting grounded alongside Ethan and Conner. They at least had to be safer than he was.

The evening had started off slightly interestingly because Zack decided that he liked Tommy's sports jacket better than his own black leather vest and had nearly wrestled the former first white ranger into switching outfits with him. Neither bothered to go into the bathroom and change, swapping clothing right in the middle of the lobby, both men exposing their bare chests, and actually getting whistles from some of the women who happened to be around. Zack didn't really bother him, but he was beginning to understand why Kira had been so mortified earlier in the week.

Secondly, Tommy, Jason, Billy, Zack, Rocky and Adam had all decided that instead of taking two cars, it would a whole lot more cost efficient to just take one, even though none of their vehicles was made to hold seven individuals. Thus, Trent had been forced to ride in the trunk of Jason's SUV beside Billy and in order to fit, he'd been bent nearly in half.

Now was the third straw, and Trent was really getting irritated. He was still bent over in the trunk and getting more and more cramped by the minute. Beside him Billy was leaning forward, listening to the conversation taking place in the two rows of seats in front of them.

"I am so the better leader."

"Just because you were first doesn't make you the best."

"Sure it does," Jason yelled above the blasting music which was slowly given Trent a head ache. "Zordon chose me, didn't he."

"It isn't my fault I didn't live in Angel Grove at the time. Besides, he kicked you out to make room for me."

"Did not. I resigned. I was getting bored and irritated with Zack, Billy, Trini and Kimberly always not listening to me."

"Hey! I listened to you," Zack yelled back.

"I concur." Billy's voice resounded loudly in Trent's ear. The poor teenager wanted to slam his head against the back of the leather seat.

"But they listened to me so much better," Tommy threw in.

"Only because you had once been the super scary evil green ranger who nearly killed them all. They were afraid you'd revert."

"I was never afraid of Tommy!" Everyone sort of looked at Zack for a second before he muttered something under his breath and looked away.

"Well what about Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Kat, and Tanya. They never saw me evil and they followed my lead."

"They didn't know any better," Jason told him.

"Hey!" Adam yelled back. "Just so you know, that time when Tommy went missing, you were a horrible leader."

"Told you so," Tommy said sticking his tongue out at Jason like a three year old.

"Lets put it too a vote if you're so sure," Jason replied. "All in favor of the rainbow ranger as the best leader raise your hand." Rocky and Adam's hands shot straight up, while Zack kept his locked in place. Billy slowly raised his hand. "Traitor," Jason muttered. "Just you wait until…"

"JASON! WATCH THE ROAD!" The yell come the passenger seat and forced all of the former original rangers to turn immediately forward while Trent pressed his hands to his ears, shut his eyes, and ducked his head even more than he already was, preparing for the looming collision.

Jason slammed his foot on the break and turned the steering wheel, just barely avoiding hitting an old couple who were moving at a snails pace across the intersection where the light had already turned green. The SUV did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn before finally coming to a halt about twenty feet away from where the elderly couple was. The husband was now on the ground, clutching his cane to his chest, while his wife was slowly helping him up.

Inside the car, all seven former rangers were breathing heavily, sweat pouring down their brows. "I'd say you both suck as leaders," Trent managed, looking up and out the back window.

"Trent, go check if they're ok." Tommy ordered, ignoring the teenager's comment.

"Me? Why the heck do I have to go?" Trent tried to argue. One look from Tommy and his old teammates and Trent knew it was useless to argue. He pushed the SUV's back window open and crawled out of the truck, slightly happy to have an excuse to stretch his muscles. "Stupid Dr. O. Should have stayed at the hotel with Conner and Ethan, or pretended to be a girl and tagged along with Kira," Trent muttered as he approached the couple.

The wife had finally gotten her husband back on his feet, and was helping him dust his pants off when Trent finally reached them. "I am so so sorry. My friend wasn't watching where he was going and we really do apologize. Are you both alright?"

"HOOLAGAN!" The old woman screamed, snatching her husband's cane out of his hands and swinging it at Trent's head. The former white ranger managed to duck, but the second swing came at his legs and he was sent sprawling onto his ass as she swung at his head several more times. Trent was forced to use his arms to deflect the blows toward his head.

"Lady! Please, I said we were sorry," he yelled out, struggling to get to his feet while still protecting his head from the flying cane which was now being accompanied by the woman's husband kicking him, and a string of profanity that would have made a pirate blush.

Trent finally managed to get to his feet, and stumbled slightly as he turned around and dashed back toward Jason's car. He threw the rear hatch open, thrust himself inside, and slammed the door back down behind, before turning back to look at Jason.

"DRIVE! Just get me out of here," the teenager yelled, anger in his eyes and a look that would have spurred even the most hardened criminals into action. Jason looked at Tommy who instantly nodded.

"I was evil; he was evil and insane," the first white ranger told his friend who instantly stepped on the gas and booked it out of there before the old couple could possibly even see the license plate.

Trent collapsed backwards onto Billy, rubbing his soar, and more than likely, black and blue arms, mumbling about stupid old people and annoying former power rangers, and possibly something about revenge. Tommy though he heard the mention of throwing shoes at some point during the teen's quiet rant.

When they finally reached the parking lot of the club, Trent nearly bolted from the SUV and tried to get as far away from the adults as possible. Unfortunately, that meant running towards the entrance of the club where he got a great view of the club's title.

"Would someone care to explain why the club is titled 'The Sexy Kitten'?" Trent asked, when the six adults finally caught up to him.

"Not really, no," Tommy replied, clapping his young teammate on the shoulder and steering the now stunned youth toward the entrance, while his friends filed behind them.

"ID?" the guard at the door who looked more like a mountain lion on steroids to Trent, glared down at him. Trent just continued to stare, rather confused by what was now going on.

"Sorry about him. He was just attacked by a couple of rabid elderly," Zack apologized handing the bouncer his ID along with Jason's, Adam's, Rocky's and Billy's.

"Trent, give the nice man your ID so we can go in," Tommy informed the teenager who just blinked at him, as he handed over his own ID.

"Dr. O, I don't think I want to be at a place called "The Sexy Kitten," Trent stuttered out, although he did hand the mountain lion man his ID. The man quickly looked them over, grabbed a black permanent marker and tired to pull Trent's hand toward him. Unfortunately his ranger instincts took over and he twisted the larger man's arm behind his back, which turned into a wrestling battle. Due to the fact that Trent was powerless and probably half the bouncer's size, the arm twist was as far as Trent got.

Thinking that the teenager was resisting the mark that declared him as under the drinking age, the bouncer proceeded to grab Trent in a head lock with his left arm and drew a huge, permanent marker, black X across his face, extending from his hair line to his chin before shoving him back toward Tommy, who caught the teenager.

Jason slowly took their IDs back from the man and nodded at him. "Sorry. He's not all there," he apologized, pushing Tommy towards the door. It took only a nudge to get his best friend moving, and a minute later, all seven, included the branded Trent found themselves in the main area of "The Sexy Kitten".

"Tommy, you said this was a club right?" Adam asked him, staring at the room around him. The former white ranger was grinning and nodding. "You didn't know it was a strip club?" Once again, Tommy answered only by shaking his head and grinning.

"Aisha's going to kill me," Rocky whinned.

"And Trini!"

"Not to mention Tanya."

"And Cestria!"

"I don't think I'm supposed to be here," Trent muttered as one of the half naked dancers came up and caressed his chest. He turned a slight shade of pink and looked at his science teacher. "I really don't think I'm supposed to be here."

"Quit complaining. I think Tommy chose a great club," Zack laughed, already depositing a dollar bill in one of the girl's bikini tops, and then starting to flirt with her.

"Tommy, what about Kimberly?" Jason's voice finally snapped Tommy out of the trance he'd sort of entered as soon as he found out exactly what took place inside a club called "The Sexy Kitten." His smile faltered, and he stared at Jason, horrified at himself. For one, he didn't want Jason to figure out that everything with Kimberly had been make believe, a game, pretend. And second, some very small part of him suddenly felt like he'd been caught cheating on his girlfriend and that he was lower than the lowest worm on earth, even though he knew Kimberly wasn't really his girlfriend.

"Um… do you have any… um… rooms we could use? We were just sort of looking to have a few drinks, and most of us are quite involved," Tommy immediately said to the nearest stripper. The girl grinned at him.

"Of course," the girl who's name tag read Maddie replied. "It's really very refreshing to find guys who don't even want to go to a strip club because they feel they'd be cheating on their ladies. Follow me."

"Come on Casanova," Jason said, grabbing the collar of Zack, or rather Tommy's, sports jacket and pulling the former black ranger away from stripper he'd lost nearly ten dollars and his phone number to.

"Call me!" he yelled back to her as Jason dragged him into the room Maddie escorted the seven of them too.

Once inside, Trent instantly collapsed onto one of the black sofas and stared up at the ceiling muttering "Why me" over and over again, while the other six took seats around him.

"Your friend ok?" Maddie asked Rocky who was the closest to her, nodding towards Trent.

"He'll be fine once he's had a little caffine," Rocky told her. "Could you bring him a pitcher of pepsi?"

"No problem. What about you all? I'm guessing that if you came here and you weren't looking for strippers you were probably at least in search of something a bit stronger than soda," Maddie told them smiling. She at least had clothes on, which made the guys think she was probably a bar tender or management or something.

"How about three bottles of tequila and six shot glasses?" Zack asked her, from his seat.

"You got it," Maddie replied, smiling. "And that cute dancer's phone number."

"Oh… sorry, you're on your own for that one," she told him, winking and disappearing from the room, leaving the seven guys (including one very dejected Zack) alone while she went to get the drinks. Some how Trent figured it was going to be one very long night.

* * *

Slowly the sounds in their room fell into some sort of pattern. Ethan would be typing away on his keyboard for a few seconds, and then you would hear some strange sound like an alien being disintegrated or something based on whatever game he was playing at the time. From the other side of the room, rummaging would be heard followed by a second of silence and then either more rummaging or the sound of something being tossed away. The whole pattern had been going on for about two hours, and the monotony was really beginning to put Ethan to sleep. Conner on the other hand was too busy, and by the sounds of his stomach, too hungry to even think about sleep.

The monotony of the moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Ethan looked up from his laptop, while Conner poked his head out from under the bed.

"Good going, ordering room service. I'm starving," Conner told Ethan who gave him a strange look.

"I didn't order any room service. I figured part of the grounding involved not eating."

"Not eating? No way, Dr. O only said we couldn't leave the room; there was nothing about not eating. If there was I would have placed myself on the first bus to Reefside."

"So if you didn't order room service yet, and I didn't order room service, who's at the door," Ethan asked, as the knocking sounded again.

"Dunno, but they seem pretty determined. Maybe you should open the door and tell them that we're grounded and not allowed to have company."

"Me? You're the leader Conner. Step up."

Conner just rolled his eyes, pushed himself to his feet and walked over towards the door and opened it to reveal four middle aged women looking like they were dressed to party, but completely tired and worn out, which could possibly be explained by the ten children all under the age of eight that accompanied them. Conner opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off.

"Finally, I thought you wouldn't answer," said the first woman, who looked like she was incharge. She pushed the two children she had with her into the room past Conner.

"I uh.."

"The hotel didn't say that their staff babysitters were boys. I was expecting girls, but a babysitter is a babysitter," a second woman said, shoving her own three inside as well. The remaining two women behind her added their own five children to the brood that was gathering around a very stunned Ethan, who'd bolted out of his chair the moment the first child had invaded their room.

"You see, we're not –"

"Oh of course you can handle them. They're really a delight. Thanks again. Their bed time is eleven o'clock and we'll be back around two in the morning, we promise. Have a good night," the first woman told Conner, before turning back to her friends and the four of them disappeared down the hall, leaving a very confused Conner standing in the door.

"Conner? What the hell just happened?" Ethan asked him, trying to pull one of the smaller children away from his computer, while a second was dangling like a monkey from his neck. Conner shut the door and turned around to see that two of the children were climbing on the television, while three more were jumping on the three beds in the room. He was sure there had been ten, but no matter what, he only counted seven, until he heard a flush, followed by a very childish "uh-oh" come from the bathroom.

"I think we just got saddled with ten children."

"How the hell does that happen?" Ethan pleaded. He'd managed to dislodge one child from his computer and was closing it and to get it out of the way and into a safe. Remembering what was in the safe, he just threw open the connecting door to Tommy's room, placed the computer inside and then locked the door to keep the children out.

"Beats me," Conner responded, pulling one of the kids off of the TV and placing him under his arm before grabbing the second one and then depositing them both on the foot of one of the beds. Ethan followed suit, even moving to round up the three children, who were now soaked to the bone by what ever it was they'd been doing in the bathroom. Once they'd gotten the children situated on the bed, they started to formulate a plan. It was only nine o'clock and they had to somehow keep the kids busy for the next two hours, then watch them for three more and pray that Tommy and the others did not get back before two am or they'd have a very hard time explaining how they'd ended up babysitters for ten rug rats, especially because they had no idea how it had happened in the first place.

"Ok, first things first… who are you people?" Conner asked the boy directly in front of him who appeared to be the oldest.

"We're kids you dope," the children responded, sticking his tongue out.

"I know that. What are your names?"

"Caleb," the boy told him.

"And how old are you?" Ethan put in. The boy held up seven fingers. "Lovely."

"Ok, next?" Conner asked the next kid. They went down the line until they'd figured out that besides Caleb, Marco and Samantha were seven, Frank and Elaine were five, Gwen, Toby, Scott, and Chelsea were three, and Neal was two. They'd also figured out that Marco and Elaine were the children of the first woman. The second woman was the mother of Caleb, Chelsea, and Neal. Samantha, Frank, and Gwen were siblings, and Toby and Scott were identical twins… ok, make that soaking went identical twins, a trait that they shared with Chelsea.

"So what do we do now?" Conner asked Ethan who looked at him and shrugged. Conner was the leader. Conner had to figure out something to do that would keep ten children busy and tired for the next two hours. Besides, it was Conner's fault they were grounded, Conner's fault they opened the door, and Conner's fault that they didn't explain to the mothers that they were not the hotel babysitters. They didn't even know the hotel had babysitters. "Um… are any of you hungry?"

The kids let out a very loud chorus of "me" and began yelling and screaming to get their orders heard. Conner grabbed the pad and pen off the dresser and started scrambling to write down everything that came out of the kids mouths from jelly beans to steak. Ethan wanted to slam his head against the wall.

* * *

Half way through dinner, Kira was positive she was the only one still completely sober, while Aisha, Tanya, and Kat were drunk, and Kimberly was slightly tipsy. Granted, Kimberly had started to only pretend she was taking drinks of her wine in order to make sure that Trini didn't order any more beers. She'd had four already, and was whining that she barely even felt a buzz, when ever Kimberly told their waitress to only bring her coffee or water.

"So, back to the game," Kat laughed. "Lets see, most embarrassing moment as a ranger?"

"Being frightened by Zack and that stupid mask," Trini replied, "and I should have burned it," she added, remembering the day they'd spent at the youth center.

"That time when I tried to teach Tommy to sing and we ended up singing Opera whenever we tried to talk," Tanya laughed.

"You tried to teach Dr. O to sing?" Kira asked, grinning. Tanya nodded.

"Failed horribly though."

"I think the time we were turned into kids by master vile would have to be the most embarrassing for me," Aisha put in, getting a look of sympathy from Kat.

"For me it was our near transformation into bugs," Kat replied, and Tanya nodded, remembering that day pretty well.

"Mine would have been the time all of our personalities got turned upside down and I turned into a prissy makeup obsessed female."

"You were turned into Kimberly?" Trini asked her.

"Hey!" Kim replied laughing as the rest of the group laughed along with her. "Definitely the love potion thing. That was absolutely horrible."

"Love potion?" Kat asked. "I've never heard about that before."

"We were sworn to secrecy," Aisha told her. "It was pretty humiliating and Kim wasn't the only one who made us promise never to tell."

"Who else?" Trini asked her.

"Tommy," Kimberly replied, grinning. "I think he was more mortified by the whole thing than I was."

"What happened?" Kira asked, giving Kimberly the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"Squat and Baboo unleashed a monster on us when Rita and Zedd were away. Not so much an evil monster as someone who likes to make others fall in love. Meanwhile, there was another monster, this time Goldar and Zedd's doing. Long story short, we defeated it and are hear to tell the story," Kimberly told her. "But the really embarrassing part was the love potion monster."

"I'll say. She made both the principal and Bulk and Skull's boss fall in love with Ms. Appleby," Aisha laughed. "Not to mention making Bulk fall in love with me. Talk about creepy."

"You had it easy," Kimberly replied, as a blush sort of crept up on her cheeks. "Aisha was only an object of the spell's affection. I was a victim."

"Oh god. What happened?"

"There was a dance coming up, and obviously I was going with Tommy," Kimberly replied, "and that's when the monster hit me with the potion. Unfortunately before I could see Tommy who was standing right beside me, I saw Skull."

"You fell in love with Skull?" Trini asked, nearly spitting the water she'd been drinking out of her mouth. Kimberly just nodded.

"I even told Tommy that I shouldn't settle for him when I could have Skull. I swear he must have lost some major confidence points, especially because we had no idea there even was a love potion monster out there. Tommy thought I'd really left him for Skull."

"And boy was she out of it," Aisha added. "She decided that the pink ranger would only fight to protect her beloved Skull, which was a major clue that something was off. You should have seen the sign of relief on Tommy's face when we found out Kimberly was under a spell."

"I really had to apologize profusely for that one," Kimberly told the other girls who were now laughing their heads off. "And I even needed to apologize to Skull for toying with him. I couldn't just come out and say 'sorry Skull I really don't love you and I was acting under the influence of a love potion. But don't worry, me and the other power rangers fixed everything and I can go back to hating your guts now.' I feel that would have been a little harsh."

"Not to mention disastrous," Aisha added. "At least Bulk backed off too."

By this point dinner was just about done, and Kimberly figured it was time to move onto round two. Besides, she wasn't sure she could keep Trini from drinking any more than she already had, and whether or not Trini thought she was getting drunk, Kim was positive there would be a hang over to deal with in the morning if dinner continued. Thus, the first pink ranger called for the check, and took out her credit card.

"Dinner's on me you guys," she told her friends.

"Kim are you sure?" Kat asked, fully prepared to pay. Her predecessor just nodded.

"Same for you Kira," Kimberly told the girl who was taking out her own card. "You're a guest tonight. Besides, Tommy and I were supposed to be taking everyone out."

"Why?" Aisha asked her, still trying to get answers.

"Well, lets just say it would have been a thank you dinner. But we can do it later in the week. I totally enjoyed getting away from the guys for the night."

"Agreed!" Trini shouted, toasting with her glass of water, and nearly spilling it on Tanya.

"Ok, it's totally time to get going. You're all trashed," Kimberly told them.

"I am not," Kat giggled, leaning on her yellow zeo teammate who nodded agreement.

"Nope, Kim's right. I'm totally out of it," Aisha laughed, as Kimberly paid the bill, and then stood to collect her purse.

"Come on guys. Lets go back to my room. I want to play something."

"What?" Kira asked, as the six of them left the restaurant.

"Truth or Dare."

* * *

A little shorter than usual, but I think it works. Don't know if I'll get another up before Saturday since my grandmother is visiting, I have to work this afternoon, and we're going to an amusement park on Wednesday, out to dinner on Thursday, and who knows what Friday will bring. So yeah, I loved this chapter. Hope you all found it amusing. Please Review, they make me feel warm and cuddly inside. 


	26. Sometimes Alcohol Can Be A Problem

Ok, so the first thing I have to say is thank you all so much for the many birthday wishes. Secondly, thanks for all your reviews. And third, onto chapter 26.

* * *

"Ok, next I say we do cities," Billy suggested, taking a long drink from his beer that resided next to him. He sat on the floor around a coffee table with Tommy, Rocky, Adam, and Jason. Trent was lounging on the couch behind them, sucking a virgin daiquiri through a straw, and getting quite a sugar rush. Zack had long since disappeared in search the hot stripper that he'd first met when he walked in the door. Although, Billy didn't think he'd make a very good impression since he was having trouble walking straight.

"Did we do states like three rounds ago?" Adam asked, pouring some of the tequila into each of the five shot glasses in front of them.

"I can't think of anything else," Billy actually whined.

"Cities it is then!" A fairly drunk Jason agreed, raising his glass like he was giving a toast. Tommy, who sat beside him, pulled his arm back down, and shook his head. Somehow he needed to make sure Jason didn't continue to do as lousy at their alphabet game as he'd done the past 14 rounds.

"Who starts?" Rocky asked. Jason and Zack were definitely not the only two who were drunk. Rocky was already having trouble seeing straight, and Billy hadn't used any four syllable words in the past hour. Adam and Tommy seemed a bit out of it, but next to Trent, they were definitely the most sober of the bunch.

"I will," Jason told them. Everyone just nodded. Hopefully, if Jason started, he'd stand a good chance of not doing so poorly. It also didn't hurt that after they'd finished the first three bottles of tequila, they'd ordered two more, but Tommy had made sure a third was filled with water. He and Adam had taken turns pouring the water into Jason's shot glasses on the last few rounds, and they were going to continue to do so until Jason figured it out; that was if he ever figured it out.

"A –Athens!"

"B – Baltimore!" Rocky added, continuing the chain.

"C – Canton," Billy said easily.

"D – um… um… oh shit," Adam laughed, and downed his shot. He didn't even notice the taste anymore. Rocky refilled the tiny glass, while everyone looked expectantly at Tommy.

"D – Dover," he said simply, shrugging.

"Duh!" Trent laughed, enjoying watching the drunken antics of his science teacher and friends.

"E – Edgar!" Jason replied happily. Everyone gave him strange looks. "It's a city in Nebraska.

"I don't even want to ask how you'd know that," Tommy told him.

"F – Freeport."

"G – ok, um… ok, ok, I got it."

"Too late, Billy!" Adam laughed.

"Bottoms up," Jason agreed.

"No! I know one I do!" Billy laughed, protesting as Rocky raised his shot glass toward him.

"You gotta drink it."

"Rules are rules," Trent agreed.

"Fine," Billy sighed and downed the shot. His head buzzed for a second and then he got a nice warm feeling and a goofy grin on his face, causing everyone to laugh.

"Ok, forewarning. This is so the final round. I have no idea about you guys, but I'm so trashed," Tommy lied. The others groaned, but nodded in agreement. "Trent, could you go see if you can hunt down Zack?"

"Sure Dr. O."

"Oh, and Trent, going to the bathroom to once again try and scrub the X off your face is just going to make your skin even redder."

"Point taken," the teen answered and walked out the door.

"Back to the game. Adam's turn.

"G – Gettysburg, simple."

"H – Havana." Tommy took his turn and took a sip of water from the glass beside him.

"I – oh screw it. I don't know any cities that start with I," Jason told them and quickly downed his "shot". Tommy automatically refilled it from the bottle beside him, while everyone waited for Rocky.

"Not a clue, but hey, I like tequila," he laughed, and swallowed his own shot.

"Oh for the love of, I – Issaquah," Billy said, sighing.

"You came up with that, but you couldn't find something for G?" Tommy asked him. Billy just shrugged.

"J – Jamestown."

"K – Kansas city."

"L – L.A."

"M – Manchester," Rocky took his turn. "Half done," he added, leaning back against the couch. "What do you think is taking your white ranger, Tommy?"

"Who knows. Maybe Zack's being allusive."

"Ah, the hunt for the allusive black ranger. Maybe we should film it as a documentary," Jason suggested.

"See, it's a suggestion like that that makes me wonder how much you've had to drink," Billy told him. Jason just grinned. "So all in favor of Jason not driving?" All five hands went up, including Jason's.

"I'm not an idiot. Tommy, I'll just let Trent drive. He can't do any worse than I did getting us here."

"Yeah, Trent has sense enough not to try and run over old people," Adam laughed.

"I wasn't trying to run them over. They just happened to be there. Wasn't it past their bedtime anyway?"

Tommy shook his head. "Speaking of bed time. Lets take a break for a minute. I've gotta call Conner and Ethan. It's nearly one in the morning and I'm really surprised I haven't gotten a call from the hotel saying they burnt it down."

"Somehow, I don't think even those two would be capable of something like that," Rocky told him. Tommy just responded with a look that said "have you met Conner and Ethan."

"I'll be right back," he told them, pulling himself off the floor and wondered out of the room.

* * *

"So where is this rule book that says you have to be wearing pajamas to play truth or dare in a hotel room?" Kira asked, Kimberly and Trini as she came out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair. When'd they gotten back to the hotel (a feat accomplished by Kira driving Kim's car and sending Tanya, Kat, and Aisha back in a cab) at eleven, Kimberly had insisted that everyone get changed into their pajamas. Kira and Kim had both decided to take showers as well as changing, that way all three of them wouldn't need to shower in the morning. Trini had called Aisha's room, and Tanya and Kat's to tell them that the group would be meeting back up at midnight in Kim's room.

"It exists in the realm of sleepovers," Kimberly retorted, laughing, as she pushed a bag of microwave popcorn into the in room microwave. She'd made Kira stop at a grocery store on the way back to grab the snacks.

"Everyone ready?" Aisha poked her head into the room, leading Tanya and Kat behind her.

"As ready as one can ever be when playing truth or dare," Trini called back. "Or rather drunken truth or dare."

"I'm quite sober thank you," Kimberly told her laughing as the other three took seats on the floor beside Kira and Trini.

"As am I," Kira added.

"Well, that makes two of us," Tanya giggled as Kim brought the popcorn and chips over.

"So, who goes first?"

"Oh let me!" Kira said, raising her hand. "That way I can get it over with and go check on Conner and Ethan for Dr. O."

"Good plan," Kim assured her. "Ok then. I'll ask… Kira, Truth or Dare."

"Um… truth."

"Alright. You claim you were never part of the Dr. Oliver fan club at your school, but what do you really think of him?"

"What? Dr. O?"

"Yes, and you have to be truthful," Trini told her.

"Ok, um… well, so he's not just my science teacher. He's my friend. I like him a lot, but no way, no how would I ever find him attractive. I'd rather make out with Conner."

"So if you had to choose between Tommy and Conner," Trini egged her on.

"Conner. As sad as that might sound. Conner all the way. Although I'd rather choose neither."

Kim pouted, and crossed her hands over her chest. "Oh fine. Your turn to ask then," she told her, and everyone laughed.

"Ok, Aisha, Truth or Dare?"

"Me?" Aisha said, looking up at the younger girl. "oh, Truth."

"Wow, you all are no fun," Kimberly laughed.

"Truth, hmm… Ok, when did you first realize that Rocky was the one for you?"

"Um… well, I suppose I've sort of always known, but for sure was the time I ended up going to the school's Vice-versa dance alone, or rather with Adam."

"You went to a dance with Adam, and that's how you realized you were in love with Rocky?"

"Well, another girl had already asked him and he'd said yes, and then I got caught up helping Adam find a date because Kim was going with Tommy and a girl named Laura had asked Billy. Adam did get asked, but the girl turned out to be Scorpina, one of our enemies."

"Can't we do anything normal?" Kira asked, laughing a bit.

"Apparently not," Kim told her.

"But anyway, Adam and I went to the dance and while we were talking with Kim and Tommy, one of the girls in school came up and she and Adam hit it off, so there I was alone, and the whole rest of the time all I could think about was Rocky dancing with some other girl. So not my idea of a good time. But it all worked out in the end."

"Well, I'm amused. Anyway, I'm going to go and check on Conner and Ethan. Hopefully they're still in their room like they're supposed to be," Kira told them.

"Come back soon," Tanya called as the teenager left the room. "I like her," she told the others who just laughed.

* * *

Kira wondered down the hallway from the room she was sharing with Kimberly and Trini until she reached the room that housed her three teenage teammates. She sort of wondered if Trent was back yet, but judging from the fact that he was out with all the other guys in the group, she was really doubting it. However, she figured she still should check in on Conner and Ethan to make sure they weren't doing anything else they shouldn't be, and maybe try once again to encourage them to drop whatever it was they were planning on doing the next day. Tommy and Kimberly had big plans for Saturday, and she really didn't think they'd appreciate Conner and Ethan wrecking everything.

She raised her hand and knocked lightly on the door. "If you've come baring children, go away!" came the response from inside. It sounded like Ethan was both trying to make sure she heard him as well as not be too loud.

"What? I don't have any children. And I most certainly do not want to bare any of yours," she replied through the doorway, which was followed by the clattering of someone rushing to get to the door. The door flew open, revealing a very hassled looking Conner.

"Kira! Thank god you're here!" he threw his arms around her and pulled her into the biggest hug of her entire life, forcing all the air out of her lungs.

"Can't breath Conner," she croaked out, forcing him to let go of her. "What's going on? You two didn't do anything stupid did you?" she asked, pushing past him and going into the room. She stopped and surveyed the sight before her. "Ok, so you did do something stupid. Where did all these kids come from? Why is the carpet sticky? Is there toilet paper on the ceiling? And why is Ethan covered in… I don't think I even want to know what that is."

"its cherry sauce," Ethan told her from the chair he was imprisoned in. Several towels lay on the floor around him, while some still held him to the chair.

"Would you believe we were invaded by mutant child shaped space people?" Conner asked, rubbing the back of his head while Kira approached Ethan and began to finish the task of untying him, which Conner had apparently started.

"No."

"Well, do you think Dr. O, would?"

"Conner, what the hell went on here?" Kira demanded.

"It really wasn't our fault this time, Kira," Ethan told her. She gave him a look that told him to shut up or she was going to leave him in the chair.

"It's a long story," Conner said, sitting lightly on the end of one of the beds, trying not the wake the children curled up in it.

"Give me the abridged version so I can help you out of this mess and get back to actually enjoying my night."

"Learning anything useful?" Ethan asked, a grin on his face.

"Not at the moment, I'm not," she replied, still irritated with them. "Conner, spill."

"Ok, so we were in the room like Dr. O told us to be. Ethan was messing with the computer and I was clearing out all implements of death," he paused, waiting for her reaction. Kira just shook her head and waved him on. "Anyway, the next the we know, four ladies are at the door, claiming that we're the hotel babysitters and that we have to watch their ten children while they go out for the night. And before we can correct them, they've shoved their brood at us and disappeared, saying they'd be back at two."

"Why didn't you call the front desk and explain the mistake and then bring the kids to the real hotel babysitters. I'm sure they have contact numbers for the kids parents," Kira told them.

"Uh…"

"Oh please don't tell me you didn't think about that?"

"Ok, I won't tell you," Conner told her. "So anyway, we managed to feed them with room service, which we plan on asking the parents for re-imbursement, or at least the hotel."

"So where did this mess come from."

"Well, the kids didn't seem to understand that food goes in their stomachs, and not all over the place… or down the toilet," Ethan told her. She stopped untying him and stared.

"Down the toilet?"

"Unfortunately," Conner confirmed. "Managed to keep them out of Dr. O's room. Although they tied Ethan up and tried to torture him with Cherries."

"Where were you when that was happening?"

"Trying to change Neal's diaper."

"You changed a diaper? I'm shocked," Kira told him as she finally finished getting Ethan out of the chair. "And they're asleep now?"

"Yeah, it looks like they tired themselves out. They just sort of dropped on the floor so I put them in the beds." Conner looked over the ten sleeping children and then the mess in the room.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do," she announced and went over to the phone and dialed the front desk. "Hello. Hi, I need a little help here. Ok, four of your other guests mistook my friends and I for your hotel babysitters and left without waiting for clarification. Yes, the ten children are still here. Yes they're safe, although they've sort of mutilated our room not to mention destroyed personal property," Kira lied. "So here's what's going to happen. We'll hold on to the kids until their parents get back since they said they'd be back at two and it's only a couple more ours. We'll also take care of cleaning up the mess in the room if you give us carpet cleaners, a ladder, window cleaner, and a plunger. Oh, and tons of trash bags. In exchange for this, and not pressing charges, you're going to cancel our room service bill for the night." There was a pause on the phone. "Yep. That'll work. Room 604, yep. Ok thanks."

"Wow, you're intimidating," Conner told her.

"You just figured that out?" Kira asked, smiling. "Ok, so you two are going to clean up the mess and then call Kim's room once the parents pick up the kids to tell me if everything went all right."

"And you won't tell Dr. O?"

"I promise. Now, if you'll excuse me." Kira nodded and left the room, wondering exactly why she even bothered.

* * *

Finding Zack didn't take very long. Trent immediately located him sitting at the bar surrounded by several of the scantily clad women, all laughing at his jokes, or more than likely, just laughing at him, as the poor man was barely able to remain in his bar stool. What delayed Trent's return was actually getting the larger man to agree that leaving was a good idea.

"Come on Zack, Dr. O and the others want to hit the road."

"Well, they all have girlfriends," he responded, taking another sip from whatever it was he was drinking.

"Yes, but those very same girlfriends are your friends and probably won't hesitate to kill them or you if we leave you here," Trent argued.

"Death by women is not a horrible thing," Zack answered. "Specially not by those women… all those years of," Trent slapped his hand over Zack's mouth muffling the next few words to come out of his mouth. "really did them good," he allowed Zack to finish.

"I wouldn't let Jason hear you say that. I'm pretty sure he'd kill you."

"I'm not afraid o' him," Zack slurred, spinning in his stool and looking directly at Trent for the first time in the whole conversation, and splashing alcohol on himself and the girls around them, making them slightly angry. It didn't take long for them to leave, although Zack begged them to stay.

"There, you're alone. Can we go now?"

"No," Zack replied. "They'll come back once you leave," he told him sounding more like a three year old than a grown man. Trent sighed and pushed himself up onto a bar stool beside Zack, and leaned back on the bar with his elbows, while Zack turned back around to face it and his drink.

Trent let an evil gleam fall on his face. With Zack in the state he was in, Trent was willing to bet he could find out just about anything he wanted to know. But he needed something simple to test his theory.

"So, which of the girls would you really not mind getting killed by?"

"Kimberly and Tanya, buts don't tell Tommy or Adam. They'd kick my asses."

"Right, because you have multiple asses to kick," Trent muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

"What about Dr. O?"

"There is no way I'd ever want to get it on with Tommy."

"Not that," Trent spat out, horrified that such an idea would even penetrate Zack's mind, drunk or not. It was going to take forever to get rid of the mental pictures the first black ranger had just given him. "I meant, who do you think Tommy wouldn't mind getting killed by."

"Well, that's obvious. Kimberly of course."

"See, I would have known that just by looking at them now."

"Yes, but way before. Back when they first met. Tommy'd always wanted to jump her. Even after she sent him the break up letter. Tommy would have taken her back in a heart beat if he hadn't been preoccupied."

"Preoccupied?"

"Ranger stuff. Makes it hard to pursue a love life, with anyone, let alone someone who's not a ranger. Too many secrets."

"But he wouldn't have needed to keep secrets from Kimberly; she knew about being a ranger. She knew everyone's identity," Trent argued. Zack just looked at him and shook his head.

"There's also the danger. Kim wouldn't have been able to fight back if any of our enemies were to use her to get to him. Even without being his girlfriend, Divatox did kidnap Jason and Kim and turned them against the turbo rangers. How'd you like to have the woman you love and your best friend try and kill you?"

"I can't fathom it."

"Neither could Tommy. I'm pretty sure that Tommy blames himself for that day. Always has. Always will. That's probably why he lost contact with everyone. If he was a ranger and we weren't, there's always the chance we'd get hurt. And that's what Kimberly realized. That's why she broke up with him in the first place," Zack told him.

"She told you this?"

Zack shook his head. "Trini and Kimberly are like my sisters. Have been since kindergarten. They don't need to say something for it to be true."

"You're not as out of it as you seem?" Trent asked, looking at his hands in his lap.

"I have my moments," Zack laughed, and pushed himself off the stool. "Come, I see Tommy. They've sent reinforcements." Trent looked up and saw Tommy coming towards them. He jumped off his own seat and waved.

"Dr. O, we were just on our way back," he lied, causing Zack to grin beside him.

"Likely story. Get going, and Trent, make sure Zack doesn't fall on his way there."

"I can walk!" Zack protested. "Although you've got a twin. Did you get cloned again?"

Tommy didn't even reward Zack with an answer, although Trent was giving Tommy a strange look and mouthed the word "again."

"Just go," Tommy laughed, shaking his head. Zack would be feeling it in the morning. "Trent, I'm gonna go call Ethan and Conner, make sure everything is going well. Then we'll finish our game, and you're driving back to the hotel."

"Got it Dr. O." Trent nodded. He tossed Zack's arm over his shoulder and lead the way back to their private room, only to find Billy and Rocky arguing over who was more trashed, and Jason chasing Adam around the room, seemingly trying to play an odd game of leap frog. It was definitely a very weird night.

* * *

Kira walked back into the room, only to find the TV on and the other five female rangers dancing around the room in their pajamas. "Did you miss me?" She asked, announcing her presence, which made the others stop in their tracks.

"Kira!" Trini screeched and threw her arms over Kira's shoulders.

"I'll take that as a yes," the teenager laughed as Kim turned off the TV. "So, what did I miss? Some strange dare to have a dance party?"

"Actually, we decided to wait for you, then got bored, and that's the first station that came on when we turned the TV on," Tanya informed her.

"So, Aisha, you're up," Kat told her, as everyone fell back into a circle.

"Alright, Tanya, Truth or Dare."

"Dare," Tanya told her. "I don't think I can handle any truth questions you all would throw at me."

"Aww, and I wanted to know how Adam was in bed," Aisha said pouting.

"Yeah, so not going to tell you that," Tanya nodded. "Very glad I chose Dare."

"Hmm… I wasn't prepared for this," Aisha said, pouting.

"Mind if I help then?" Kat asked her.

"Go ahead," Aisha told her.

"I'm doomed."

"Yep," Kimberly and Trini laughed. Kira just watched the entire banter. She really did need to thank Dr. Oliver for bringing her along. Now she had female rangers to relate to; not that she didn't love her own teammates. It was just that now she could actually talk about the girl stuff.

"Ok Tanya, the pool's closed for the night, so you're not allowed to go swimming. However, no one ever said anything about skinny dipping."

"No!" Tanya told her, eyes wide open.

"Yes," everyone else told her. Kat pulled her to her feet, as everyone else stood up and shoved her in the bathroom.

"Now, strip then wrap yourself in a towel."

Tanya groaned, but did as she was told, before coming back out of the bathroom. "Damn short hotel towels," Tanya muttered as Kat grabbed her. "How exactly are we going to get to the pool?"

"I'll distract them!" Trini suggested, causing everyone to look at her.

"Ok, see that's just the booze talking," Kimberly assured them. "Trini, let's save the yellow ranger for Saturday."

"But it is Saturday," she pouted. "And Jason and Zack got to morph! Twice!"

"Next Saturday," Kimberly assured her.

"They did what? How many times?" Kat asked them.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Kimberly replied, grabbing her key off the dresser. "Now, it shouldn't be too hard for six former power rangers to break into the pool undetected," she continued.

"Yeah, especially when we can just slip in through the back entrance. That way we don't have to go anywhere near the lobby," Aisha added.

"But won't they throw us out if they catch us?" Tanya pleaded.

"Nope, only you," Kat told her. "Nice try though."

"But just in case, I'll go down to the Lobby and have a nice chat with the woman at the desk. Just call my cell once you're in the pool area," Kira told them before going in the opposite direction.

Kimberly just nodded and took the lead once again. Ten minutes later, to fence hops, and several dives behind bushes, and the five finally made it to the pool, making sure to stay out of sight of the lobby windows.

"You know, I think that I see a bellhop coming," Tanya told them, taking a few steps away. Kat simply grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

"Stay," she laughed, as Kim pulled out her cell phone and dialed Kira's number. The teen didn't answer, but a few seconds later, she slipped up behind them.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Trini asked her.

"The night receptionist thought I was cute. Wasn't hard to convince him I just wanted to see what the pool looked like at night." Everyone just kind of stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "What? I've spent a week with you people. I had to learn something," she insisted. "Just don't tell Trent."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Kimberly assured her.

"Ok Tanya, time for you to hit the water," Aisha said, grabbing hold of Tanya's towel and yanking it off her, forcing the third yellow ranger to whirl around and fall with a huge splash into the water, resulting in muffled laughter from the rest of the group as she surfaced.

"I hate you all," she spat at them, glaring.

"We know," Aisha and Kat told her, grinning.

"Oh, and by the way," Trini told the submerged zeo ranger. "We'll meet you back up in the room," she smiled and turned, heading back the way they'd come.

"WHAT!" Tanya yelled as Aisha took off running after her, towel still clutched in her hand. The other three just grinned and ran off as well, leaving Tanya stranded in the pool, glaring in their direction. "I'm going to kill them."

* * *

"Hey Kira. Yeah, the room's clean. We've been calling for the past fifteen minutes, where have you been? Um… wow. Ok then. Later," Conner hung up the room phone and turned around to face Ethan. "Kira just broke into the hotel swimming pool with the rest of the girls to force Tanya to go skinning dipping."

"You don't think Kira…"

"No way," Conner told him, sitting down on the end of the bed. "Some how tonight turned out much odder than I thought."

"Yeah, and it's only one thirty," Ethan answered, falling back into the chair beside the desk. Suddenly the phone rang. He frowned and then answered it. "Hello? Oh, hey Dr. O," he replied into the speaker.

"Ethan, everything ok?"

"Everything's fine," Ethan told him.

"It's awfully quiet. Where's Conner?"

"He's sitting on the bed," Ethan replied, motioning Conner over.

"Hey Dr. O," Conner said into the receiver.

"Hmm, alright then. Anyway, we'll be heading home in a bit, just thought I'd call and check up on you."

"Well, we're just fine," Ethan assured him. "Kira even checked up on us, too."

"The girl's are back? They all go to bed?"

"Um, not quite. Kira said something about daring Tanya to go skinny dipping."

"What?" Tommy asked confused.

"We have no idea," Ethan responded. "I'm guessing some odd, version of truth or dare."

"Yeah, that sounds like Kimberly and Trini," Tommy replied. "Well, just behave. And remember to be down in the lobby and dressed by nine tomorrow."

"Will do, Dr. O," Ethan told him as one of the children whined a bit in his sleep.

"What was that?"

"Um… Conner just hit his head on the desk. I dropped a pen and he was getting it."

"Right. Whatever, see you both tomorrow," Tommy said, hanging up the phone.

Ethan just sighed and slid a little further into the chair. "Thank god he didn't ask more questions than that," Ethan told Conner who nodded only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

"What is with people today?" Conner asked, sighing and getting up to once again answer the door. He was actually surprised to find the four women for earlier standing outside their room, thirty minutes early when they'd really been expecting them to be late. "Hi," he replied, letting them in.

"Um, I'd like to apologize," the woman who appeared to be the boss, told her. "The hotel called us and told us about the mix up. We really didn't mean to stick you with the kids when it wasn't your job."

"Please, take this as compensation," a second woman told him, handing them $500 in cash. "It's double what we were paying the hotel's sitters."

"Looks like they didn't cause you too much trouble," a third put in before Conner or Ethan could say anything. Although, thank you was about all they could muster when they realized how much money Conner was holding.

"We'll take the kids out of your hair now," the fourth told them, waking up the children, and helping them out of the beds. "Ok kids, tell the nice boys thank you and lets go," she instructed them once all ten were sleepily standing and shuffling out the door.

"Thank you Conner and Ethan," the ten chorused and started down the hall, being lead by one of the mothers while the other three thanked the two former rangers several more times, before leaving to catch up.

"You realize we're going to have to give Kira at least a hundred for helping and covering for us," Conner told Ethan.

"Yeah, but that leaves two hundred for each of us," Ethan replied. "But lets worry about this in the morning. All I want to do is sleep now."

"Good plan," Conner told him, making sure they only locked one lock so Trent could get back in.

* * *

Tommy walked back into the room, to find Trent sitting back on the couch sipping another daiquiri, while Jason, Adam, and Zack wrestled on the floor, Adam on the bottom clutching a bottle of tequila to his chest, while Rocky and Billy were playing a game of rock, paper, scissors.

"I leave for five minutes and the world goes nuts," Tommy told them, taking the bottle from Adam and sniffing it. He thrust it away from his nose as soon as he figured out that it was the real tequila, and that the one with the water lay smashed in a corner. They'd have to clean up the glass shards before they left.

"Wow, your friends are weird," a voice said over his shoulder.

"Maddie?" Tommy said, whirling around only to find the girl holding a broom and dust pan. "Here, let me get that," he moved to take the broom from her.

"Nope. I got it. But you may want to take them home. Those five seem to have gone insane, and the young one is gonna get a sugar rush combined with brain freeze if he keeps sucking on that straw," Maddie responded, going over to the corner. Tommy nodded and set the bottle down on the coffee table.

"Good idea. Alright guys, party's over. Come on," he said, pulling Jason off of Zack and Adam.

"But I want the tequila," Jason whined.

"Nope, you've head enough. Trent, put down the sugar and get Jason's keys. Billy, Rocky, no one is ever going to win that game if you keep doing the same thing, lets go," he told them, dragging Jason out the door, while Trent helped usher the other four out.

By the time they reached the hotel, Billy and Rocky were curled up asleep in the trunk, Adam was complaining about a headache in the passenger seat, and Zack and Tommy were sitting beside Jason, trying to keep him from throwing up in his own car.

"How do we get them all up to bed?" Trent asked when they climbed out of the car.

"Well, Zack can get Billy up to bed, I'm pretty sure Adam can get Rocky up without killing him, and you're going to get Jason to bed."

"Where you going?" Trent asked, draping Jason's arm over his shoulder.

"There's something I have to check on," Tommy told him, grabbed his sport's jacket off Zack's shoulder, and headed off in another direction.

"Where do you think he's off to?" Zack asked, from where he was helping Billy and Rocky out of the trunk.

"No idea," Adam replied. "Come on. We have a big day tomorrow, and we need to get these two up to bed."

Tommy, in the mean time, slipped around the back of the pool and hopped over the gate, his eyes searching the water until he found a head poking out in the darkest corner, making strange, muttered, cursing sounds. "I thought I'd find you here," he told the figure, who whirled around and stared at him.

"I – uh – um… so of all the ways I'd be seeing you, I didn't think you'd be wearing a leather vest," she told him, grinning.

"Funny, I thought you'd be wearing clothes," Tommy told her, smiling back. "How'd they get you naked in the water anyway?"

"Never mix alcohol, truth or dare, and crazy former rangers," Tanya replied. Tommy just shook his head.

"So, I'd hug you, but one, you're wet, and two, Adam would kill me if he ever found out I saw and hugged you while you were naked."

"Yeah, he would. How'd you know I'd be here?"

"Well, Kira told Conner and Ethan what she'd been doing, and they told me. It didn't take too long to figure out that they'd leave you here," Tommy answered. "Here," he held out the sports jacket for her, and turned around. "I don't care if it gets wet."

"Thanks," Tanya replied, pulling herself out of the water and wrapping herself in his coat. "Aww, it's comfy. Now I understand what Aisha meant about Kim always stealing your clothes."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be wanting that back in the morning, he told her."

"Maybe," Tanya grinned then hugged him. "It's great to see you, Tommy. I'll tell the others you guys are back."

"It's great to see you too. Tell Kat I said hi," he told her. "And I'll see you all in the morning. And remember, I'll want my jacket!"

"Right," Tanya grinned and left the pool area. Tommy just shook his head and followed a few seconds later.

* * *

Tanya knocked on the door to Kimberly's room and was instantly let in by a giggling Aisha.

"What's so funny?" she asked as she stepped into the room. "Ok, never mind. Just explain why Kimberly is standing in the middle of room in her underwear, while Trini holds a can of whipped cream."

"Well, Trini didn't feel like waiting for you to get back, so she Truth or Dared Kim," Kat told her. "I think she was hoping Kim would choose truth so she could find out what went on Wednesday."

"I was," Trini pouted. "But she had to choose dare. Wait, where did you get that sports jacket?" she asked Tanya who disappeared into the bathroom, listening to their explanation. She re-emerged carrying the jacket, wearing her pajamas.

"Oh this? Tommy found me in the pool and gave it to me," she explained sitting on the bed.

"Tommy saw you naked?" Kimberly asked.

"No, I was still in the pool. He took pity on me and gave me his jacket," Tanya told them.

"So that means the boys are back?" Trini asked, and Tanya nodded. "Oh, this is perfect."

"Oh god, no," Kimberly muttered.

"Oh god, yes."

"What's perfect?" Kat asked Trini.

"Well, we were going to have Kimberly go down to the front desk looking like all she had on was a whipped cream bikini, but with Tommy back."

"Trini, please don't make me," Kimberly pleaded.

"Aww, what's wrong Kimmy, I though you and Tommy were back together?" Trini told her.

"We are. This is just degrading," Kim protested. "Besides, Jason's there too."

"Jason wouldn't dare look. Now, lets get started," Trini told her, beginning the process of covering Kimberly in whipped cream.

"Just wait until you get yours," Kim told her, glaring, as Trini pushed her out the door. "You're coming, right?"

"Of course," Trini told her. "Someone's got to take pictures."

"You're plain evil," Kimberly remarked while the others giggled.

"And yet somehow this plan doesn't disgust me," Kira laughed following everyone down the hall. They stopped outside Tommy's room and Kat knocked. A few seconds later Tommy opened the door.

"Kat? Hey. What's going on?" he asked, looking like he'd just been getting ready for bed.

"Hey you. I didn't think it was fair that Tanya got to see you and I didn't," she pouted, coming up with a random excuse as to why they would be there.

"Oh, well. Here I am. Did you have a good flight?" he asked her, as she hugged him.

"Wonderful," she assured him. "But come out here for a minute, the light is too dim in your room."

"Yeah, well, Jason went a bit over board on the tequila tonight, and he's already asleep," Tommy explained grabbing his key and coming out into the hall where his eyes first fell on Trini. "I – mean, I –" his jaw fell open when Trini and Aisha stepped aside to let Tommy's gaze fall fully onto Kimberly. "I – I – aye yi yi…"

"Aww, look he's stuttering like Alpha," Aisha laughed while Kimberly started to blush bright red. "Now Kimmy, don't forget your little speech."

Tommy looked incredibly confused and stunned while Kimberly turned to glare at her so called friends.

"Go on, Kimmy," Trini egged.

"Uh… I… um…ifyoueveruhwannagetuhsundayicoulduhsupplythewhippedcreamandumthecherry," Kimberly blurted out as quickly as she could.

"What was that? No one could understand you," Kat told her, while Tanya and Kira started cracking up laughing.

"If you ever want to get a Sunday I could supply the whipped cream and the cherry," she replied, staring at her feet, and pulling a small red cherry out of her bra, and popped it in her mouth. Tommy's jaw nearly hit the floor as the other five former female power rangers nearly dropped laughing. Kimberly was glowing beat red, waiting for Tommy's response. Their entire lie depending on what he did next. "Tommy?" she muttered, hoping to snap him out of his trance. Tommy shut his mouth, and took a deep breath, forcing himself to regain some sense of composure.

"I – wow. Um, Kim, if you're willing to supply all that, I guess I'd better bring along the banana," he told her. Kimberly took a deep breath and smiled, realizing he wasn't going to let this beat them, but instead he was willing to play along with Trini's little sceme.

"I thought you would," she laughed, getting up on her tippy toes, and kissing his cheek, smearing a bit of whipped cream on his chest. "Nighty night," she added, before turning around and pushing past her now stunned friends, and heading back to her room.

Trini looked back and fourth between Tommy and Kimberly. "How did? What did? I demand to know what's going on!"

"What's wrong Trini?" Tommy asked her, grinning. Trini just stared at him. "Thanks for getting Kim to put on that little show. I missed her tonight," he said. "Night guys," he laughed and walked back into his room, closing the door.

"Trini?" Kat asked, nudging her.

"Those two are up to something!" Trini stated, before turning and following Kimberly. "I'm going to bed." The other three looked at Kira, who was leaning against the wall, eyes squeezed shut.

"Kira, you alright?" Aisha asked her.

"I take it back. I'm way beyond disgusted," Kira told her.

"Come on little yellow ranger. Let's get you to sleep," Aisha added, pushing the teenager along. "You two as well. Tomorrow's an important day," she told the other two who nodded and headed off in the direction of the elevator. Aisha made sure Kira got in the room and followed them. "Somehow, Kim's going to get revenge on Trini for tonight."

"You think," Kat and Tanya replied sarcastically. One thing was for sure, they all just hoped their plans for Saturday went smoothly.

* * *

So, I'm apologizing in advance that this is going to be a cliff hanger for a little while. I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow morning and won't be back for about a week and a half or so. But I do promise to get the next chapter up as soon as I can because I've been dying to write Saturday for the longest time. Hope you all enjoyed, and I look forward to your reviews.

Fateless Wanderer


	27. I Dos and I Definitely Shouldn't Haves

At last! WOOT! Ok so yeah, I'm excited about this chapter. Some of you might have already guessed what two things I've been leading up to, but if you haven't, I do hope you enjoy. Actually, I hope you enjoy regardless.

* * *

Some one really needed to turn the sun off, or else someone aught to have learned to shut the curtains. Actually, she was pretty certain she'd shut the curtains before going to bed the night before; that is, after growling at Kimberly for ruining her perfectly good plan. Trini frowned, then turned to glare at the curtains, as if staring at them long enough would force them to shut themselves so she wouldn't have to get out of bed.

"Kim? Why are the curtains open?" she said, turning over to wake her friend, and only pausing once she discovered that the bed was empty, save her. Confused, the first yellow ranger sat up and looked around, surprised to find that Kira's bed was deserted as well. Now she was really annoyed and extremely confused. Some one was going to explain what was going on, or there would be hell to pay.

Trini tossed the blankets off and walked into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She needed to be presentable before killing someone. However, her view of the mirror was blocked by a piece of hotel stationary littered with Kimberly's hand writing. Trini pulled the paper off the mirror and flipped on the light.

_Trini,_

_Sorry about not waking you this morning, but I've arranged brunch for the whole group at Angel Grove Botanical gardens today and when I was leaving to go check that everything was set, Kira woke up. She decided to come with me, but I though you could use a bit more sleep after last night. There's some advil on the counter. When you're done getting dressed, meet us in the lobby._

_Love, Kimberly_

Trini sighed, and smiled a bit as she folded the short letter in half and quickly located the pain killers Kim had left for her, laughing a bit at how right Kimberly had been that she'd need them. Well, if they were going to be eating in the gardens, she supposed Kim meant for her to wear something nice. Unfortunately, all her nice clothes were still at her house. Trini glanced down at the paper in her hand and nearly burst out laughing when she saw Kim's hand writing once again across the back of the note.

_P.S. – I realized you didn't have anything to wear, so I hope you don't mind borrowing the dress on the back of the door. I'm sure it will fit._

Curiosity sunk in and Trini closed the door only to find a white strapless dress that looked like it would reach her ankles hanging on a hook. The bottom looked like it was embroidered with tiny pale yellow flowers, but then again, they could have been off white. She took the dress back into the bedroom with her and pulling the curtains shut, she began to change.

Funny enough, Kimberly had been right that the dress should fit. In fact, it looked as if it had been made for her, not Kim. She brushed her hair quickly, then slipped her feet into the white heels she'd worn to dinner the night before, and grabbed her room key before heading out to find Kimberly, and maybe still maim her for leaving her disoriented and alone in the hotel room.

* * *

Jason woke up to the sound of a thump and instinctively braced himself for the impact of a shoe against his head. Ever since Tommy decided shoes were better than words, Jason worried about getting hit every morning. However, the sound finally revealed itself to be something hitting the door outside the room. Probably some little kid running through the hallway without parents to make him stop. Grumbling, and not knowing what time it was, Jason forced himself to sit up, then groaned, as he was forced to brace his pounding head in his hands.

"Damn it Tommy, why didn't you stop me from drinking so much last night… Tommy?"

It finally occurred to him that he was actually alone in the room. Tommy's bed lay empty, but showed definite signs of having been slept in the night before. However, that didn't explain the former multicolored ranger's disappearance.

Confused, and a bit worried, Jason pulled himself out of bed, and made a fast detour to the bathroom to relieve himself and toss down several pain killers, in an attempt to dissolve the little tiny hammers that were threatening to burst his skull open. Hesitantly he turned one of the room's lights on and proceeded to the connecting door. He pushed it open a bit, only to find it deserted. Somehow, all three of the teenage boys had managed to get up before him and now they too were missing and even though his head ache had gone down, Jason still couldn't see straight. In fact, he felt like there was something blocking his line of vision.

Angrily, the former red ranger reached up to his eyes to rub them, and only stopped when his hands collided with a piece of paper which had been taped to his forehead.

_Jase,_

_Didn't know where else to put this that you'd actually find it, although the Tylenol bottle might have been a good guess. Is it completely empty now? Anyway, I hate to tell you this, but Kim's decided we don't have enough culture in our lives so she's forcing us to go to the opera tomorrow night. Yep, the Opera and if I have to go, you're coming to help me keep my sanity. So anyway, she's rented all of us guys tuxes and had them dropped off this morning. We're supposed to put them on and go down to the lobby to meet some guy from the tailor who's going to size them for us. Sorry about this, bro, but you know Kim. There's really no arguing with her. See you when you finally get your hung over ass out of bed,_

_Tommy_

Great. Just great. Now he had to deal with pulling on a tux and standing by why some guy pokes him with needles all while dealing with an incredibly horrible hang over. However, Tommy was right. There would be no arguing with Kimberly. Better that he go along obediently instead of causing an argument that could result with him sleeping on the couch if Trini liked Kim's idea. Thus, he slumped his shoulders and allowed himself to search the dimly lit room for the tux that Tommy claimed had been dropped off.

He finally found it, a pair of socks, and shoes all sitting him the closet. He pulled them out and laid them on the bed, and wandered back into the bathroom to take a quick shower. If he was trying on something rented, he wasn't going to be putting it on without being clean. Tommy would just have to wait a bit longer.

* * *

"What do you think's taking them so long?" Aisha asked Kim, sticking her head out of the bathroom she'd been imprisoned in earlier in the week. Kim turned around, slightly started and shrugged. Only her friends head and shoulders were visible, but Kim could tell that the yellow spaghetti strap dress she had on fit perfectly. Her friend's hair and make up looked great as well, so her appearance could only mean that she and the other's still in the rest room were just about done. By contrast, Kimberly wore a simple white blouse and pink knee length skirt. Her make up was only a rushed job, and her hair hung limp on her shoulders. She was standing beside the rest room, having a silent conversation with Tommy who remained hidden behind a column, dressed in a perfectly fitting tux.

"Dunno. I'm sure that leaving the curtains open would have woke Trini up. What about Jason?"

"Zack said he heard cursing coming from the room after he banged on the door," Tommy informed her. "So he should be awake. And probably trying to find a way out of going to the opera."

"I can't believe you told him it was my idea," Kimberly shot at him, grinning as the elevator doors open. Aisha pulled her head back inside the bathroom before anyone saw her, and Kim turned her attention towards the crowd of people stepping out. A huge smile lit her face when she saw Trini. Tommy took the hint and dove out of sight. He couldn't be seen until the right moment. "There you are! Everyone's waiting on you," Kimberly said, approaching her friend who seemed to be searching for everyone else.

"Yeah, well, you could have woken me. And where is everyone else?" Trini asked, glaring at her friend suspiciously. "Is that what you're wearing?"

"Yes it is, thank you very much," Kimberly shot back defensively. "Everyone's already in the parking lot. And if this is your attitude after being allowed to sleep, I think I played it safe by not waking you up."

"Sorry," Trini answered. "Thanks for the dress, by the way. It fits perfectly." She started to walk toward the parking lot, but Kimberly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the bathroom.

"No problem. I have to make a quick pit stop. I wanted to before, but I had to wait for you so you'd know where everyone was."

Trini nodded and followed her best friend into the ladies rest room.

"SURPRISE!" Several voices screamed causing Trini to stagger backwards into the half open door that was closing behind her. Her mouth hung open as she blinked like a deer in the headlights at the sight in front of her. Kira sat on the counter, wearing a yellow blouse and white skirt, beside several open make up cases, a flat iron and a curling iron. Directly in front of her Tanya and Aisha were dressed in floor length golden yellow spaghetti strap gowns. Tanya held a bouquet of red and yellow roses in her hand, while Aisha held a tiara and a veil in her hands. Kim had already disappeared into one of the stalls, and was being helped by Kat who was dressed exactly like Tanya and Aisha into a fourth identical gown. Leaning on a chair in the corner was a four foot train with the same embroidery as the dress she was wearing. And standing with her arms folded across her chest in the corner was Trini's younger cousin Sylvia dressed in a white knee length dress.

"What the hell?" Trini finally managed to get out as her friends started to laugh.

"Well, you never invited us to your first wedding, so we thought we'd throw you a proper one," Kimberly called over her shoulder. "And we ran into Sylvia at the mall that night, and figured we should invite her."

"You didn't think it was a coincidence that Kat and I managed to get rooms did you?" Tanya asked her, as she and Aisha forced the stunned yellow ranger into a chair.

"Or that we all left you alone at the park the other day?" Aisha asked her.

"Does Jason know?" Trini asked, as the girls began to help her with her make up and hair.

"As long as Dr. O didn't slip up, he shouldn't be any wiser."

"So last night?" Trini was slowly grasping what had been going on over the past few days.

"Bachelorette party," Kimberly confirmed for her as Kat helped her with her own hair and make up. "Planned for the six of us from the very moment we ran into Aisha and the others. Are you surprised?"

"Extremely," Trini laughed. "And to think, I was planning on killing you for abandoning me this morning."

"Well, we're all glad you decided against that," Sylvia told her. "But really, why all the yellow?"

"It's her favorite color," the others blurted out before Trini could answer her cousin.

"Although I look horrible in it," Kat added and Kimberly nodded in agreement. "Hold still, will you." Kat told her, holding her head still. "You're like a bobble head."

"Shut it."

* * *

Jason stepped off the elevator and frowned as he thought he saw Trini's back disappear into the bathroom behind Kimberly. However, he didn't have more than a few seconds to think about it because the next thing he knew his arm was being grabbed and he was pulled out of main stream traffic which was heading toward the check out counter.

"What the hell was that for?" Jason growled once he realized it was Tommy who'd grabbed him.

"What? Should I have yelled out your name instead?"

"You like doing things the hard way, don't you?" Jason glared.

"Nope, just the way that annoys you the most." Tommy assured him. "Oh good, the your tux seems to fit perfectly. Less poking and prodding for you. Poor Billy's a pin cushion," Tommy told him as he steered Jason through two double doors. Jason found himself in a lobby which was quite empty save a pair of wooden doors in front of him, which were surrounded by stone pedestals supporting two large vases with red and yellow roses in them. Jason finally paused, turning to stare at Tommy.

"What exactly is going on here?"

"What are you talking about?" Tommy asked back, clearly avoiding the question.

"I mean this! What's with this place? This tux? Why does it fit perfectly? Why does yours as well? And why do I highly doubt Billy became a pin cushion?" Jason protested. Tommy just grinned and stepped around him, pulling open the wooden doors. He ignored Jason's shouts at the back of his head as he strode through the doors. Now extremely angry, Jason followed, but paused as soon as he saw where Tommy had disappeared too. He stood at the front of a long red carpet, gazing into the hotel's wedding chapel. Rows of seats lined both sides of the carpet, and up in the front rows, Trent, Conner, and Ethan all wore suits, speckled with bits of their ranger colors. However, up at the very front, Zack, Rocky, and Adam stood with red handkerchiefs in their pockets and yellow roses pinned on the coats. Adam was helping Tommy with his. Billy stood off to the side discussing something with an elderly man who was obviously a minister.

"So? What do you think?" Zack asked as Jason tried to take everything in. He stared at his friends, who were now all grinning at him, including Billy who finally seemed to realize Jason had entered with Tommy.

"What on earth?" Jason managed to get out as he slumped in shock against the wall. "How long have you all? Does Trini know?"

"It's a proper wedding," Rocky told him.

"We've been planning pretty much all week," Adam said taking the next question.

"And Trini should have found out about two minutes ago," Tommy told him. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Of course. I mean… wow. I don't even know what to say you guys. This is incredible."

"Well, Zack sort of told us a bit about your first wedding, and well, we decided it wasn't good enough," Billy told him. "We're your family and we owe you both more than that."

"Yeah, I mean, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here," Tommy told him. "Or is it, you all who wouldn't be here?" he added, grinning.

"Ha ha," Jason shot back at him, walking to the front of the chapel.

"Ethan, can you go check if the girls are almost finished?" Tommy asked the teenager. He nodded and took off out of the chapel while Jason continued to let everything sink in. "This is really something you guys. But what about vows?"

"We figured you wouldn't mind going traditional," Billy told him, nodding toward the minister.

"Oh and I'll need to take this from you," Tommy said pulling the ring off Jason's finger. "Zack said you got them for ten bucks at the counter of the place that married you."

"Yeah, but won't we need them?" Jason asked, confused. Tommy shook his head. "We've taken care of that too."

"And Kim and Aisha have organized a reception at the botanical gardens for this afternoon," Rocky told him.

"And tonight a moonlit cruise on a yacht for the two of you. We'd send you on a honey moon, but with the celebration on Saturday," Zack told him.

"See now you've gone too far," Jason told them as Ethan pushed the doors back open. "Tommy, since you're here, would you…"

"Of course, Bro. I'd hoped you'd ask," Tommy told him, clapping his best friend on the shoulder. "Only fitting since Kim's maid of honor."

"Look who I found on their way over," Ethan said, gesturing to the two young women behind him. Kira and Sylvia waved to the guys and took their seats on the Bride's side of chapel while Ethan returned to sitting on the groom's side with Trent and Conner. Trent gave Kira a tiny wave and she winked back at him.

"Everyone's set then?" The minister asked the two young ladies who'd entered. Kira nodded.

"Kim just told Trini about the reception and the cruise for later, so they had to fix her make-up," Kira told Tommy.

"I told them they should have used water-proof mascara," Sylvia added with a laugh. "But yeah, they're ready now."

"Right, excuse me then," Billy said, nodding to the others as he took off at a run. Jason frowned, but the others quickly told him that Billy had wanted to walk Trini down the aisle and they weren't going to deny him that privilege. Jason just laughed as Zack placed a pre-recorded CD inside the chapel's stereo and hit play, as the other men lined up. Jason took his place in front of the minister, while Tommy stepped up beside him, followed by Adam, then Zack, and lastly Rocky.

The wooden doors opened once again and Aisha stepped through carrying two roses. She was followed by Kat, who's appearance made everyone smile, except for Adam and Jason who both just looked incredibly confused. Adam nearly fainted when Tanya appeared after Kat, and had to force himself to stand still, although he did send a quiet smile of thank you to Rocky and Tommy who were both laughing at him. However, Tommy's amused smile didn't last long as his eyes fell on Kimberly who looked drastically different from how she'd looked that morning. Even in yellow, she was stunning, and he felt a tiny twinge of guilt pull against his heart as her eyes met his. He forced himself to smile, reminding himself of the game of make believe they were playing, despite the fact that his insides were waging war. One half of him wanted to turn and run like a scared puppy with it's tail between it's legs and then destroy her for hurting him. The other half wanted to break out and hold her and kiss her right there in front of everyone else, claiming her for what she really was: rightfully his.

He met her eyes for a moment and then forced himself to look away as Trini entered the chapel with Billy, tears in her eyes. Kimberly was just pretending. He hadn't seen real love in her eyes and he was kidding himself if he did. Instead of dwelling on his thoughts, he turned his attention to his best friend's wife, who was also his friend and teammate. He felt a surge of brotherly love, and grinned as Billy lead her up to the altar, without releasing her arm.

"We are gathered here today in the face of this company, to join together Jason and Trini in matrimony; which is an honorable and solemn estate and therefore is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently and soberly. Into this estate these two persons present come now to be joined. If any one can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace." The minister stated, and paused as if waiting for someone to speak. Finally he nodded and continued. "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

"I do!" came a chorus of voices. No one really knew who was going to say the line, but none had expected them all to say it, and it caused a few moments of laughter as Billy handed Trini's arm to Jason and then took a spot next to Rocky.

"Well, that's quite a lot of people giving you away, my dear," the minister told Trini.

"I'm just lucky that way," she said smiling and still trying not to cry. Kim had threatened to kill her if she messed up her make-up for a third time.

"Then let us continue. Jason, do you take Trini for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Jason answered, for the first time, looking at no one but Trini, who met his gaze steadily.

"Trini, do you take Jason for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Trini answered the minister.

"Jason, if you'll repeat after me. I, Jason, take thee Trini, to be my wife."

"I, Jason, take thee Trini, to be my wife."

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"To have and to hold from this day forward," Jason repeated, aware that his friends behind him were grinning like mad men.

"For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish."

"For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish."

"And I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us."

"And… and I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us," Jason finished, clutching Trini's hands in his own.

"Excellent. Now you Trini. "I, Trini, take you Jason, to be my husband."

"I, Trini, take you Jason, to be my husband."

"To have and to hold from this day forward," the minister continued.

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish."

"For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish," Trini said, fighting back the tears she felt at that moment.

"And I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us."

"And I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us," she concluded, giving Jason's hands a squeeze just as he'd done.

"Could I have the rings please?" the minister asked Tommy who nodded and reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a small velvet box that Kim had showed Trent and Kira the day before. He opened it and pulled the two gold bands out of it, and handed them to the minister.

"The red one's his," Tommy told him, knowing the minister would understand what he meant.

The minister nodded and pulled the band with yellow topaz stones set in into his right hand. "May this ring be blessed so he who gives it and she who wears it may abide in peace, and continue in love until life's end." He then handed it over to Jason who took Trini's left hand in his own. "As you slide the ring on Trini's finger, repeat after me. With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment."

Jason placed the gold band on Trini's ring finger, admiring the choice his friends had made as he did so. "With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment."

Once more, the minister nodded and took the second band. This one was set with rubies. "May this ring be blessed so that she who gives it and he who wears it may abide in peace, and continue in love until life's end." He placed the ring in Trini's waiting hands. "Trini, as you place this ring on Jason's finger, repeat after me. With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment." Trini smiled as she gazed at her own ring and at the one she was about to place on Jason's finger. She slid the ring onto his finger and recited after the minister. "With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment."

"May this couple be prepared to continue to give, be able to forgive and experience more and more joy with each passing day, with each passing year. Jason and Trini, are now beginning their married life together, we hope that they may have loving assistance from their family, the constant support of friends, and a long life with good health and everlasting love. In so much as Jason and Trini have consented to live forever together in wedlock, and have witnessed the same before this company, having given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and having declared same by the giving and receiving of a ring, I pronounce that they are husband and wife," The minister spoke to the five seated young adults and the former rangers who surrounded the couple. He smiled and turned to Jason and Trini who were now watching him as well as their friends. "You may now seal the promises you have made with each other with a kiss," he told them, which of course, they didn't hesitate to do. When they broke the kiss, the minister added: "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the loving couple, Mr. and Mrs. Scott," which resulted in loud cheering and applause, as the teens abandoned their seats, and the whole group converged on the now, in their eyes, truly married couple.

Adam, completely absorbed in the ceremony had momentarily forgotten Tanya until she leaped onto his back, nuzzling his neck with her lips. "I missed you," she told him.

"Why didn't you say you were here," he laughed, kissing her back.

"Well, we decided we wanted it to be a surprise," she told him. "I thought you'd like it."

"I did," he agreed. "But when did you get here? God I've missed you."

"Aisha told me you did. And just yesterday afternoon. Aisha and Rocky met Kat and I at the airport."

"So that's where they'd gone," Adam laughed, kissing her again.

"Yep," Tanya confirmed, giggling.

"I hate to break up this love fest," Rocky cut in. "But we've got a reception to get to."

"Right," Adam agreed, blushing.

"Um… Tommy, I hate to tell you this," Jason begun, one arm around Trini's waist. Tommy just looked at him and then rubbed his temples.

"Please don't say what I think you're going to say."

"Sorry bro, but they're gone," Jason finished. Tommy took a moment to look around and confirm that yes, once again, Conner and Ethan had disappeared.

"This is getting old," Rocky muttered.

"Forget shipping them back to Reefside. I doubt anyone will care if I kill them," Tommy groaned. "Trent, check the lobby," Tommy instructed the teen who nodded and took Kira with him.

"Put it this way Tommy, if they cause any trouble today, you won't have to kill them," Kimberly told him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Tommy gave her a questioning look. "Trini will do it for you," she added, motioning to the furious looking Trini. "I'd hate to be Conner and Ethan right now."

Tommy had to laugh at that, but his amusement was short lived, as Trent came back carrying a flyer, Kira behind him looking extremely concerned.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Tommy asked as Trent handed over the piece of paper, and took several steps away from his science teacher.

Tommy looked down at the piece of paper as Kimberly and the others peered over his shoulders to get better looks at what it said.

**POWER RANGER PANEL!**

**COME MEET THE POWER RANGERS BEFORE NEXT SATURDAY'S CELEBRATION.**

**GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!**

**THIS SATURDAY – ANGEL GROVE PARK!**

"Tommy?" Kimberly asked as he went stiff.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!" Tommy yelled.

"Calm down, Tommy. They've got to have a logical explanation for what they're going to do. And we don't know exactly what they're doing yet. Let's just breathe and figure out what to do," Adam told him.

"The only thing we can do is get to the park and hope we get there before they do whatever it is they're planning," Kat told her friends who nodded.

"Dr. O, Conner said they had to do this. To um, protect you."

"Protect me?" Tommy asked, staring at Kira, who nodded, sheepishly. "Someone's going to need to protect them. Alright, to the park."

"Right. Zack, Billy, and Kat can come with Trini and I in the SUV."

"And Adam and Tanya will ride with Aisha and I," Rocky added.

"And Trent, Kira, and oh… Sylvia can ride with Tommy and I?" Kim asked questioningly, sending Trini and Tommy both looks about Sylvia.

"No choice," Trini said, nodding. Kim gave her one curt nod back, as the group moved out into the parking lot.

"Why is this such a big deal?" Sylvia asked Kira who she'd been getting friendly with that morning.

"Oh, well, Conner and Trent keep disappearing, and Dr. O's getting really sick of it," Kira told her, as they climbed into the back of Tommy's jeep, Kim whispering calming messages to Tommy the whole time.

"Well, that's understandable, but why does he seem so upset about the fact that they went to the power ranger panel? Does he not like the power rangers?" Sylvia asked.

"Um, no. Not exactly. He just, well…" Kira had absolutely no idea how to answer without actually telling the truth, and that's one thing she'd been warned about. She could still hear Kim's voice. "Remember, Sylvia doesn't know Trini or any of us was ever a power ranger, so don't say anything."

"He believes we should respect the ranger's right to privacy, and doesn't want any of us bothering them with questions," Trent filled in for her.

"But if the rangers themselves are giving the panel, maybe they really do want to answer the questions," Sylvia argued.

"Maybe, but they could just be being set up. Like Trent said, Dr. O, hates to think of anyone disrespecting their privacy," Kira agreed.

"Guess that makes sense," Sylvia told them, and leaned back against her seat, leaving the other two alone, thankfully, for the rest of the ride.

* * *

As soon as the ceremony had ended and the cheering began, Conner and Ethan had raced out of the chapel, grabbing the two boxes they'd stowed behind the vases in the lobby. Ethan was a bit more reluctant than Conner when he saw that the hotel's lobby had been covered in flyers advertising the power ranger panel they'd set up. However, at that point there was no turning back, and the two bolted out the door, and to the taxi that they'd arranged to have pick them up as soon as the wedding ended.

"So where exactly are we supposed to get changed?" Ethan asked Conner as they climbed out of the taxi a few blocks away from the park. "And how are we not going to get killed by Dr. O and the others.

"This way," Conner told him, leading the way down one of the blocks. "As long as she's here, we shouldn't have any problems," he said, stopping in front of a very run down looking building.

"Conner, why did you stop in front of the homeless shelter?" Ethan asked, pointing at the sign. "And who is she? Conner! Answer me," Ethan called as Conner grinned and lead the way inside the shelter, box in hand. Ethan tucked the other one under his arm and followed Conner inside. He found his teammate standing in the middle of a small entrance area where a young, ditsy looking girl stood behind a counter flipping through a magazine and chewing a piece of bubble gum. They were well past breakfast time, so it wasn't busy at all inside the shelter.

"Hey Natalie," Conner spoke, addressing the girl who jumped slightly. She peered at him for a moment and then smiled.

"Conner! I didn't think you'd come back after what happened to your clothes the last time you were here. I'm so glad you did though," she spoke without missing a beat.

"Uh, yeah. Listen Natalie. My friend and I, we need to take a quick shower, is that alright?"

"Of course," she said cheerfully, looking at his box. "Do you want me to hold anything for you this time?"

"No thanks. I've got it covered," Conner told her, nodding towards Ethan and leading the way into the empty showers.

"Dude, who was that?"

"Her? That's Natalie. The idiot who let some homeless guy walk out of here with my clothes."

"Right… and what exactly are we doing here?"

"We're going to change," Conner told him, locking the door. He studied the room once more and eyed the window. It was tiny. Too small for anyone to fit through, but it would serve it's purpose, at least where Natalie was concerned. He double checked the door and then, convinced it was securely locked, he opened the box he'd been carrying and removed the suit which had been folded inside it. He grinned and removed the helmet and weapon and set them on the bench, followed by the boots and gloves. Ethan was staring at him.

"Do we really have to do this?"

"It's now or never, dude," Conner told him as he began to pull the suit on. Ethan groaned but began to copy his leader with the contents of the box he carried. Once they were finished, Conner thrust the helmet that wasn't his onto his head. "Feels weird putting the suit on like this," he told Ethan who was struggling to close his own helmet.

"Yeah it does," Ethan told him. The double checked that their weapons were at their waists and they hadn't forgotten anything, then placed the lids on the empty boxes. "Now what?" Ethan asked.

"Follow me, and let me do the talking," Conner told him, unlocking the door and walking out into the entrance, unaware that Ethan's eyes were bulging behind his helmet.

"Oh My God!" Natalie shrieked as they stepped out. "You're… you're the power rangers."

"Yeah, we are."

"And you just came out of the showers!"

"Yeah, we heard a thief was hiding in there," Conner improvised. Natalie waited a moment and then nodded, her face paling a bit.

"Did you catch him?"

"Yeah. Oh and two boys, one by the name of Conner asked me to ask you to watch these for them," Conner said, handing the two empty cardboard boxes to the girl. She took them from him.

"Did you see where they went? Conner and his friend I mean?"

"Oh yes. They took the thief to the police for us," Conner continued, as Natalie drank in his every word.

"But how did they…"

"Window," Conner told her.

"Right," Natalie said, nodding.

"Now, do me a favor and don't tell anyone we've been here, and we might come back and give you an autograph," he told her as he and Ethan slid towards the door.

"Of course. I won't tell a soul," Natalie told them, waving as they left the shelter.

Ethan sighed in relief as soon as they reached the side walk outside. However, now he had to endure stares as he followed Conner the few blocks toward the park… or his death. The two were practically the same thing in his mind.

"I can't believe she believe that," Ethan remarked. Conner just laughed as the two reached the center of the park. "Ok, wow!"

"Yeah, Bulk and Skull really outdid themselves," Conner said.

In the area, a large stage had been erected; there were balloons and banners and streamers. Hundreds of people crowded around the stage, while Bulk and Skull stood by the entrance to the stage.

"Here goes nothing," Conner said, walking towards the two.

"Bulk! Bulk! Bulk look!" Skull started squealing as soon as he spotted the two power rangers coming towards them. Bulk nearly smacked him, until his eyes fell on the two as well.

"Hi," Conner said comfortably. Ethan was feeling slightly sick. "Are you in charge here?"

"Uh… uh… yeah," Bulk coughed out.

"Well, where do you want us?"

"O-o- on stage?" Skull more asked than told them as he handed both Conner and Ethan microphones.

"Right then. Come on," Conner told Ethan and lead the way up the stairs onto the stage.

* * *

"I don't see them," Aisha said as the group searched the crowd. Sylvia had luckily spotted some of her friends and excused herself from her cousin's group. Trini had of course allowed her to go and thanked her profusely for coming to the wedding, before allowing her mind to go back to the search for the wayward teenagers.

"Neither do I," Zack called back.

"What did they think would happen?" Jason asked, as they pushed their way towards the front of the crowd? That we'd all get up on that stage and reveal ourselves?"

"They're nuts," Rocky agreed.

"Uh guys, I don't think we're being given a choice," Kimberly told them, confusion and fear in her voice. Everyone followed her vision toward the stage where the white and red power rangers were waving towards the audience.

"You have got to be fuckin' kidding me!" Tommy cursed.

* * *

Ok, so that's another chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed it. Might be able to get one or two more in before school starts back up in a few weeks. Hope you enjoyed, even if you did see most of that coming.

Fateless Wanderer


	28. Did That Really Just Happen?

With no further ado...

* * *

"You have got to be fuckin' kidding me!" Tommy cursed. His mind was reeling. He tried to grasp exactly what was going on, as he locked his eyes onto the familiar helmet of the white ranger on stage. He was eighty percent sure that he hadn't been cloned again, but whether or not he'd been placed in a coma and would have to fight himself once again, wasn't entirely something he could rule out. "I'm conscious right?" he asked Zack who was the closest to him.

"Um… I think so," Zack replied.

"Why would you be unconscious?" Kimberly asked, her attention diverted for the moment, having overheard Tommy, whose face was turning green with each passing second.

"I'll explain later," he managed to get out.

Behind him, Kira and Trent were staring at the stage with looks of amusement and horror covering their face. They didn't know whether to laugh or to pity their friends, but either way, they were pretty sure they'd have to give eulogies at two funerals pretty soon.

"I call Ethan," Kira told Trent.

"Do you think it'll be two separate days? Or maybe they could have a joint one. Save time and money."

And yet, while all that was taking place, Jason was hunting frantically for his morpher, which, thanks to Trini, was not in his procession, and was due to his tendency to think evil was behind everything. This made him sure that someone had stolen it and used it to morph into the red ranger.

"It's gone!" he half whined, his face turning white as he did so. It wasn't until Rocky laid a firm hand on his shoulder that he began to calm down.

"Jase, relax. It's mine, not yours," he told his teammate who gave him the type of look that said 'how do you know'. "Scorch mark on the left shoulder. Not sure where it came from, just that it's been there for a long, long time."

"See, Jason, the world isn't out to get you," Aisha told him with a bit of a laugh. Despite the stupidity of the situation, it was slightly amusing.

"So if that's Rocky's suit, it's a fairly safe bet that Tommy doesn't have an evil clone running around again," Trini added, casting a look at Tommy who still seemed to be struggling with the image on stage.

"Which leaves only one thing," Adam put in.

"And that would be?" This time it was Kat's turn to insert a comment.

"Ethan and Conner broke into the safes and stole Rocky and Tommy's suits, and now, they're stupidly parading around in them," Kim told her. Kat looked from Kim to the other rangers, and then up to the stage and back.

"Are they always this stupid?" Tanya asked Adam who nodded.

"But knowing what's going on doesn't exactly give us a way to stop it," Billy put in, still looking at the stage. The crowd around them was still screaming and cheering, so Conner and Ethan had yet to open their mouths.

"Why me? Why do these things always have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?" Tommy started asking the sky. He'd sort of dropped to his knees and was rocking back and forth, eyes squeezed shut.

"Tommy?" Aisha asked, easing away from him a bit.

"Is Dr. O alright?" Kira asked no one in particular.

"I think Tommy's having a mental break down," Kimberly answered, turning to the others. "Which means we solve this on our own. Now, lets…"

"Hello Angel Grove!" Conner's voice rang out over the crowd. The entire group followed the voice to the white ranger standing on stage with the micro phone up to his helmet. The red ranger seemed to be hanging back a bit, as if he were slightly reluctant to be seen, but had no where to hide. The crowd cheered back, causing all former rangers to groan.

"Alright, whatever we're going to do, we've got to do it fast," Zack told them.

"I've got an idea," Kimberly told them, glancing up at the stage, where Conner and Ethan had just agreed to take questions from the audience. "Ok, I'm going to need Trini, Zack, Kira and Trent to come with me. The rest of you stay here and keep an eye on Tommy. Oh, and do whatever you can to handle the two of them until we can get them off stage," she ordered, and took off. The other four she selected shrugged and ran off after her, leaving Jason, Billy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Tanya, and Kat to deal with a mentally unstable Tommy, who was starting to draw attention to himself, and two deranged Dino Thunder rangers masquerading as the original power rangers.

"How exactly does she want us to handle Conner and Ethan?" Rocky asked as Conner selected an elderly woman from the audience with her hand in the air.

"My question is for the Red Ranger. What ever happened to the Green Ranger?"

Jason's face mirrored Ethan's at that moment, as both were completely horrified by the question. Ethan because he had no idea how to answer that, and Jason, knowing they couldn't answer that without sending people on a one way train to discovering their identities. "Billy!"

"What do you want me to do?" the former blue ranger retorted.

"That's a dumb question," Adam suddenly shouted, grabbing the crowd's attention. "Everyone knows the answer to that already," he lied. "Why don't you ask what the Pink Ranger's favorite season is?" Everyone was now looking at Adam, including Ethan and Conner. Adam met what he knew from experience was Ethan's gaze behind the black visor. Ethan and Conner both took the look to mean they were in huge trouble, but the small nod from Adam told Ethan to answer his question, as well as any others that the group asked them.

"Um… Summer," Ethan replied, picking the first thing he could think of out of his head.

Adam seemed to have chosen the most random, but well liked topic, as the next few questions asked pertained to what seasons each ranger enjoyed most. Conner and Ethan even went as far as explaining why in order to stall for time.

"Well, now we know how we're supposed to handle those two idiots," Aisha told the group.

"Right, Jason, you need to get Tommy out of the public sight. The rest of us will handle Conner and Ethan," Billy told him. "Rocky, go with him."

"Right," the two former red rangers, replied and hoisted Tommy to his feet, disappearing into the crowd.

"White Ranger, Where did you go to school?" a voice rang through the air. Aisha sighed.

"Are you dumb? Everyone knows that the ranger's didn't go to school," she yelled. "How many putties did they defeat is a much better question. At least no already knows that answer to that one."

* * *

"So, what's the plan, Kim?" Zack asked, once the five of them were out of sight of the crowd. Thanks to Conner and Ethan, the rest of the park was completely deserted.

"Well, there's only one way to communicate with the two of them without being overheard," Kimberly started. "You two are going to have to morph and use the helmet microphones to get them off stage. The only problem is, if Conner and Ethan just suddenly take off, it's going to make the Red and White Ranger's look bad."

"So not only do we have to get them off stage, we have to make it look like an emergency?" Trini groaned, covering her face with her hand. "Kim, thus far I've managed to avoid morphing."

"I know Trini, but Conner and Ethan aren't going to be afraid of Zack. You're the only one who can get them down. Please Trini?"

"Oh, alright. I guess I have to. But can I kill them afterward?"

"Yes," Kimberly assured her. "Now, if you need to tell me anything while you're up there, I have my communicator," she told them, placing the metal band on her wrist. "Now go." Trini and Zack both nodded, and took off for the far end of the park, although Trini a tad bit more reluctantly.

"What are we going to do?" Kira asked Kim.

"Once Trini gets those two off the stage, we're going to have to have to create a diversion. I'm sure the other's will help, but we've got to start it. So start thinking, because there's no other way to get them out of here without one."

"Right," Trent muttered, casting Kira a look. "I'm going to kill those two once Trini and Dr. O finish with them." Kira nodded agreement and cast a look up at her two idiot friends on stage as Ethan stood dumbly trying to answer a question from the audience.

"Hopefully they don't get ousted as imposters. I have a feeling the crowd won't leave anything for us to even maim."

* * *

"Tommy will you please snap out of it?" Jason begged. He and Rocky had dragged Tommy back to the outer edges of the mob scene that was the park and yet all Tommy had done was babble incoherently, occasionally saying something regarding the Universe having had it out for him since day one. "Oh for god sakes, it hasn't been that bad," Jason muttered, leaning back against a tree.

"Not that bad! Not that bad! How do you know what bad is?"

"Um, power ranger too, bro," Jason answered, glad Tommy at least seemed to be registering what he was saying.

"Sure. But you didn't get kidnapped as a teenager, forced to become an evil, power crazed jerk, nearly destroy the girl you had a crush on, get trapped in a freakin force field by robot or get your ass kicked until a damn sword could be destroyed to turn you good again."

"So you were evil. We've all had troubles," Rocky interjected, trying to keep the sane speech going. It was better than the babbling.

"That's just the tip of the iceburg. I've been kidnapped, my friends have been kidnapped just to get to me. My powers were specifically sough after and destroy. I've been cloned, been placed under spells, separated from my teammates, turned into a bug, into a child, forced to sing everything I say. I've been plagued by amplified babies, had my memories erased, been subjected to annoying bouts of déjà vu. There was the whole being kidnapped by a crazy dino mutant, trapped in amber, turned invisible, placed in a coma and forced to fight my way back to consciousness or die."

"What?" Jason and Rocky tried to interject, but Tommy ignored them.

"I've had to deal with annoying teenaged teammates, with teenaged problems that I should have been done with years ago. And recently, I've been knocked into a pool, nearly run the car into a tree because Conner called Kimberly hot, forced to listen to Zack's idea of logic, got yelled at in public by my ex-girlfriend, had ice dumped down my boxers, had to rescue Billy from sex-crazed Swedish maids, nearly hurt Kimberly during a sparing match, been made fun of more times than I can count, forced to believe Lord Zedd was attacking, been threatened with death by angry former yellow and pink rangers, nearly drowned in a pool, been yelled at by teenagers, been forced to become a pack mule in a mall, almost got our identities exposed, got stranded in the middle of desert, forced to spend the night in a deserted power chamber, got punched in the face and sent to the hospital, lost two of my charges countless times, and now I'm being forced to watch those same two idiots slowly destroy the identity I've worked so hard to protect. But that's not even the worst of it."

"You're not done?" Jason muttered.

"No! The worst of it is that I'm stuck spending two weeks with the one girl I ever really loved. The same girl who ripped my heart out by sending a letter to break up with me while she was in Florida. And I can't hate her for it. I want to hate her for it. But I can't because in reality all I want to do is forgive her, pull her into my arms and make out with her right up on that stage in front of everyone. But no! Instead I'm being forced, by my own stupid… stupidity to fake that we're back together so that you'll all leave us alone!"

"YOU'VE BEEN DOING WHAT!" Jason said, jamming him up against the tree. "You've been faking these past few days? I should knock your teeth out."

Tommy pushed Jason off him and stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Yes, we've been faking. All that happened at the power chamber is that we agreed we were tired of you all pushing us. But even though we're only faking, I really do love her and yes, I want her back, and I would readily do anything to get her back, but Conner and Ethan keep ruining everything and she's only faking to get you to leave us alone. At the end of the week, she's going to go back home and forget this all even happened, and I'm going to be left feeling incredibly, well, stupid, yet again."

"Ok, dude, breath," Rocky told him. "First, if you want Kim back, tell her so. If you don't want to tell her, tell Trini and Aisha. Second, Trini is going to rip your head off for faking as soon as she finish with Conner and Ethan. Third, we can deal with your issues later. We've got bigger problems."

"Yes, Rocky, I'm well aware of the fact that Conner and Ethan are masquerading as myself and Jason or you in front of an entire crowd."

"Bigger problem," Rocky repeated. "They've just been joined by a yellow and black ranger."

"What! Please tell me Kira and Trent haven't gone off the deep end as well?" Tommy groaned, gazing up at the stage.

"I'm guessing this has to do with Kimberly's plan," Jason muttered, pressing his hand into his face.

"Kimberly's plan was to dress Kira and Trent up with power ranger suits and send them on stage as well?" Tommy asked, looking very upset again.

"No. That's got to be Trini and Zack. Doesn't explain what they're doing up there, but," Jason muttered, and fished in his tux pocket again. He pulled out the communicator he'd hidden there that morning, glad Trini hadn't thought to look in his sock the other day. He strapped it onto his wrist, and crossed his fingers before hitting Kim's code. "Kimmie?"

"Yeah Jase," Kim's voice came back clearly a second later which meant that wherever she currently was, she wasn't in danger of being overheard.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, I sent Trini and Zack up on stage to threat Conner and Ethan into getting off. Kira, Trent, and I are still trying to figure out how to distract everyone afterwards."

"How did you get Trini to agree to morph?" Rocky asked, thinking back to the day Aisha got herself locked in the bathroom.

"Told her she could kill them once we got them down."

"Only if I don't kill them first," Tommy said, grabbing Jason's wrist.

"Oh, you're back to normal?" she said, amusement in her voice. "Good to know."

"Uh… yeah, but I, I kinda ousted our plan."

"You did what! Damn it, Tommy. Things were going so well, and now Trini's going to kill me too."

"Sorry?" he asked her, while Rocky and Jason laughed.

"You'd better be," Kim muttered.

"Hey, Kim, I've got an idea on how to distract the crowd. It's going to require you and Billy though, and well, a bit of morphing," Rocky told her.

"Ninjetti!" Kim laughed. "Rocky you're a genius. Is Billy with you?"

"Thanks and no, but I'll get him for you. Where are you?"

"Just on the other side of the hill on the left when facing the stage. Tell him to hurry. I'm not sure how long it's going to take Trini to talk Conner down. That's if she refrains from killing him in front of everyone."

"Oh boy. I can see headlines," Jason laughed. "Yellow Ranger Kills White Ranger During Question Panel."

"So not good press," Rocky agreed. "Ok, I'll go get Billy. Good luck Kim."

"Thanks," she replied and cut the transmission, before gazing back up at Trini on stage. However, her mind was still on Tommy ending their fake relationship. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she knew she didn't have time to dwell on it. They'd deal with it later. Right now, they had their reputations to protect.

* * *

"CONNER!" In one ear, the white clad, red dino thunder ranger heard a yell that made him nearly jumped off the stage into the waiting crowd in front of him. However, no one else seemed to hear it, except Ethan, who had fallen onto the floor and was attempting to make it look like he'd tripped over his own feet. Conner frantically looked around, for the source of the yell and saw the black and yellow rangers standing at the top of the stairs; the yellow ranger with her hands on her hips, leaning forward, and obviously the source of the yell; and the black ranger standing behind her, arms crossed over his chest. Conner hadn't really been scared of Zack before, but he was beginning to see that even the groups clown could look menacing when morphed. Now he knew how one of the monsters felt when faced with an entire ranger team just before they died.

"How come…" Conner started to ask.

"Small button, back of helmet, turns helmet communication on," Zack informed them, reaching up to touch the back of his helmet near his neck. Ethan and Conner knew better than not to copy what he was doing.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Trini resumed her tirade, stepping out closer onto the stage, as the audience slowly caught on to the fact that two more rangers had joined the first two on stage. Unfortunately, they didn't really seem to grasp the hostilities taking place between the white and yellow rangers, or that the red ranger was trying to hide once again.

"Uh… hi Trini. Congratulations on your wedding?"

"Dude, that's so not going to get you out of this," Zack told him. "I'll handle the crowd," he added, shaking his head and going to the edge of the stage where he knelt down and began shaking hands with people in the audience, and answering the odd question as best he could. Trini however, remained behind, not really caring if the news papers reported the death of the white ranger by the yellow ranger's hands.

"I repeat, what do you think you're doing?"

"Really Trini, we can explain," Ethan attempted, speaking for the first time since Trini and Zack had made their appearance on stage.

"Let's hear it then."

"Ok, well," Conner spoke up. "You see them," he indicated Bulk and Skull beside the staircase, both who realized he was looking at them and waved to him and Trini. Trini reluctantly waved back and then nodded to Conner. "Well, they've sort of got this idea that Dr. O and Jason are the white and red power rangers."

Now Trini stared at them as if they'd gone nuts. "You're telling me Bulk and Skull have figured out that Jason and Tommy are power rangers, and their colors."

"Yeah, Bulk figures that as teenagers, you all are the only people they never really looked into, and well, they said out of the whole group, Dr. O and Jason are the only ones who stood a chance of being rangers," Conner continued. By this time, Trini had calmed down enough, and the three were conducting their private conversation between speaking randomly to the crowd, or posing for pictures.

"But what about when Jason left for the peace conference."

"That's just it. Skull managed to convince Bulk that maybe Jason never really left, and was just being home schooled for a while because he reappeared during the zeo rangers period and you and Zack never came home."

"So why exactly are you two doing this? And just so you know, I'm still going to kill you."

"Because we have to let Bulk and Skull see us and Jason and Dr. O at the same time so they'll think they had it wrong. It's the only thing we could think of, that would convince Bulk and Skull."

"Your logic is faulty," Trini snapped. "I want a full explanation when we get off this stage; now let's go." She began moving towards the stairs, and only looked back over her shoulder when she didn't hear footsteps behind her. She turned to see that Ethan had taken several steps toward her, but Conner had caught his arm and was preventing him from leaving. She glared at them, and then cast a look at Zack, who shrugged; he was halfway down the stairs already. "I said let's go."

"No," Conner replied back.

"What did you just say?"

"I said I'm not leaving the stage?" Conner squeaked out. He'd barely taken another breath when Trini launched herself angrily at him, knocking him off his feet and pinning him to the stage below.

"SOMEONE HELP!" Was the only thing Conner heard before Trini tried to strangle him. Both Ethan and Zack rushed forward to try and pry Trini's hands off Conner's neck. Even through the armor of the suit, she was doing a pretty good job of depriving the younger ranger of oxygen.

Around them the audience had surged forward in an attempt to save their beloved white ranger from the yellow one, who was clearly an imposter, and probably under the employment of some evil alien bent on taking over the world. The citizen's of angel grove hadn't let it happen once, and they weren't about to let it happen now. The only thing that stopped them was Zack realizing the spectacle Trini was making and immediately leaving Conner and Trini to Ethan, while he attempted to address the crowd.

"Listen everyone. I'm incredibly sorry, but um… yellow, uh… well, white just insulted her. He uh… accidentally remarked about how… god help me, um… how large her rear end is." Someone, god perhaps, seemed to have been listening, and prevented Trini from hearing his explanation, as her attention on strangling Conner didn't seem to diminish, however, Ethan had managed to get one of her arms behind her back, so now she was only using one hand and all of her weight to keep Conner pinned to the ground. "You know how women are," he said out loud. "Kim, help me! Conner refuses to get off the stage until Bulk and Skull have seen Tommy and Jason," he whispered into his helmet.

"What! Zack that's ridiculous."

"Just make it happen," he hissed back. "I'll explain later," he added, cutting the transmission and turning the attention back to the crowd, and then his former murderous teammate.

"Yellow, come on, let white go. We know how STUPID he is," Zack hissed, as he resumed the attempt to get Trini off Conner, relieved to see that the crowd had actually bought his speech, although he could see Aisha, Kat, Tanya, and Adam who were attempting to make it look like they were helping the crowd, while hindering their movements forward, were staring at him, horrified looks on their faces. He sent one more silent thank you to whatever power had prevented him from being overheard by Trini.

Just as the two finally managed to free Conner and pull him to his feet, Zack heard a voice bounce off the inside of his helmet.

"Jason just informed me that he and Tommy have been seen and Bulk and Skull are chattering frantically. I don't know what's going on, but something just happened."

"Thanks, Kim. I promise I'll explain. You ready for the diversion?"

"Billy and I are set," she assured him. "Just head in our direction."

"Got it," he replied, quickly, Trini still grasped in his hands, while Ethan was assisting Conner in standing.

"White, Red, it's over. You did what you came to do," he stressed to the two teenagers. "Now say goodbye to the nice people, and tell them you'll see them Saturday."

"Goodbye nice people; we'll see you Saturday," Conner and Ethan chorus, heads down as they followed Zack, who was leading a very angry Trini off the stage, away from the dumb struck crowd.

"Now what?" Ethan asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Fuck, they're chasing us."

"Now, we run," Zack yelled, giving Trini a push. "You two stay close to us, and just follow. The other's will cover."

"How?" Ethan began, but Zack cut him off.

"Just trust me, or you'll be the next person we sic Trini on," he hissed. Ethan immediately shut up and began running, Conner directly behind him. He glance back once more, only to see pink and blue clad figures suddenly appear out of no where.

Kimberly and Billy's appearance made the crowd, that was being lead by Bulk and Skull come to a drastic halt; several people, including Adam and Jason, fell to the grass under their feet.

"Now, we can't have you all following them," Kimberly said, hands on her hips, causing her to resemble Trini up on stage. Billy's own position seemed to mimic Zack, and due to what they'd just seen, the crowd actually didn't protest.

"We're clear," Zack's voice rang in Kim's communicator, just loud enough for her to hear. She didn't know where they were, and at that moment she didn't care. All that mattered was that Trini and Zack were demorphed, and hopefully, Conner and Ethan weren't roaming around in power ranger regalia anymore. She didn't even bother worrying about how quickly they'd changed.

"Well, if you'll forgive us. We'll be delighted to converse with you all at the authorized commemoration scheduled for Saturday," Billy informed them. He nodded to Kimberly while every else took what had just occurred in, and a swift hand gesture later, all that remained on the ground in front of the crowd were two piles of ninja robes: one pink and the second blue.

* * *

Conner and Ethan had been roughly shoved behind one of the park restrooms by Zack, while Trini fumed silently several feet away. The former black ranger did not look please or amused. Instead he looked furious, and Conner almost wished he was facing Trini again instead of the silent figure glaring at them.

"Take them off, and wrap them in my tux jacket. Anything that doesn't fit, use your shirts. Use your pants if you have to, but NO ONE is seeing you dressed like that any longer," he had said quietly, but neither teenage missed the acid dripping from his voice.

"Yes sir," they'd answered.

Now the four were walking swiftly towards the homeless shelter, where Conner and Ethan had left the boxes. Both teens were shirtless, although they'd managed to keep their pants.

"Conner! You've lost your clothes again," Natalie sounded incredibly surprised when the four people had wandered back in. "Oh, and you've brought more friends. We're always here to help," she grinned, almost like a Barbie doll. The only thing that kept Trini from knocking some sense into her was that she thought the teenager was really, really creepy.

"Trust me, he's not my friend," Trini hissed.

"She doesn't mean that," Zack told the teen. "I think," he added with a smile.

"Listen, Natalie. We left some boxes here earlier?" Conner asked. The girl nodded and handed them back. "Thanks. We're just going to borrow the showers again, we'll be on our way."

"Okey dokey," Natalie told them. "Will your friends be joining you?"

"No," Trini said sharply.

"No thanks," Zack replied, as he guided Trini to a bench in the corner to wait for Conner and Ethan who had once again disappeared into the empty shower room. Zack wished they would hurry up, as Natalie was staring at him and Trini from across the room with that same sickly sweet smile she always wore. He half expected her head to start spinning around, because she was seriously giving him the creeps.

When Conner and Ethan did finally emerge, Natalie turned her attention to Conner. "Everything go alright with those thieves you brought in?"

"What?" Ethan asked, very confused.

"The power rangers. They said you two took thieves to prison for them, through the window?"

"Oh yes," Conner confirmed, nodding. "Yes, everything is fine. Thanks. Anyway, I doubt I'll be coming back, so, um… thanks for your help."

"You're welcome. And you'll always have the towel to remember us by."

Conner just nodded and followed the adults out of the shelter, he and Ethan each carrying a heavy box. "Even if I did want to remember that place, damn dog stole the freaking towel."

"We should have left you in jail," Trini snapped at him.

"I'm sorry. Trini really I am. But we…"

"I don't want to hear it right now," she told him. "One explanation in front of everyone, is all you're getting." She paused for a few moments as the four continued their walk back to the park. "However, I'm sorry about trying to strangle you."

"Yeah, well, I deserved it. We should have told you what we were doing."

"Yes, you should have," Zack replied. "But it was kind of fun… but dude, that girl is creepy."

"I know."

"You showered there?" Ethan asked him.

"Yes."

"Now you've probably got creepy germs," Zack continued.

"Zack, there is no such thing as creepy germs," Trini said, slightly amused.

"Sure there isn't. And next you're going to tell me that Tommy isn't their father."

"WHAT?" Conner choked out.

"Dude, that's gross," Ethan added.

"I… eww," Conner amended his own comment. "Really, just… no way."

"See, we told you Zack. They'd never have him."

* * *

"Billy? Billy where are you?" Kimberly called as loud as she dared. Considering the fact that she hadn't used her ninja powers in over a decade, they hadn't exactly been able to control where they rematerialized, and now she couldn't find Billy. The moment she'd felt solid ground under her feet again, she'd powered down, leaving her stranded in some random area of the park, wearing the yellow bride's maid dress.

"Up here!" Billy called. Kim spun around, trying to locate the origin of his voice. She pressed her hand to suppress a laugh when she spotted him, hanging upside down, in his tuxedo from a tree branch.

"Nice landing," she giggled.

"Get me down," he growled. Kimberly complied, still laughing, and soon, between the two of them, Billy's feet were once again on the ground. Kimberly was still making fun of him, when her cell phone rang.

"Clean get away?" Trini asked, from the other end when Kim answered.

"On your part, yeah. Billy and I are still waiting to hear from the others whether or not we're being tailed. Meet back at the parking lot?"

"Sure thing."

"Trini, are Conner and Ethan still alive."

"For the time being," the former ranger confirmed.

"Good. See you in a bit."

"Kay, bye."

"Trini and them alright, I take it?" Billy asked her, as Kim linked her arm with his, still laughing at the whole situation, and nodded. "Why do you find this so funny?"

"Because we have never once, in the entire time that we were rangers had to protect our identities like that," she laughed.

"Your point?"

"And when we do, it's Tommy's fault," she explained, unable to contain her giggles any longer. Billy looked confused for a moment, before finally accepting that she was right, and it was quite amusing, however, he contented himself by just smiling, and helping support her quivering frame as they headed back to the parking lot.

Kimberly managed to get some composure by the time they reached their cars and most of their friends. However, as soon as she saw Tommy, she broke into a whole knew set of hysterics. Billy smiled and shook his head.

"What's up with her?" Rocky asked, indicating the laughing woman on Billy's left.

"Apparently she's deduced that the previous situation is essentially due to a lapse in Tommy's judgment when he thought to allow Conner and Ethan to accompany him to the reunion, and effectively finds it exceedingly entertaining. "

"Billy, use small words. We just had a near exposure experience here," Jason told him.

"Kim thinks the whole thing that just happened is Tommy's fault, and thus, finds it funny," he stated.

"My fault?" Tommy asked, grinning at Kimberly, while looking hurt at the same time.

"Yes," she managed to say between laughs, as she calmed down. "I'm sorry but it is."

"It is not," he protested.

"Face it Tommy, I think she's right. You did bring them," Aisha told him. The other's just nodded agreement.

"Oh, alright. I suppose it is kinda my fault," he laughed. "And I suppose it was funny. But wait, Kim, why did Jason and I have to make sure Bulk and Skull saw us?"

"Not at clue," Kim responded. "Zack only said that he'd explain later."

"Well, later should be in a second," Kira told them from where she was perched on top of the hood of Tommy's jeep where she'd fallen shortly after she'd received her powers. "They're almost here. And it looks like Trini left enough of them for you to kill, Dr. O."

Tommy just made a sound like he was acknowledging what she said, as he leaned back against the fence, arms crossed over his chest. Jason and Rocky positioned themselves on either side of him, and the other's spread out, to create a semi-circle for the other four to step into, while Trent and Kira, remained behind them, on the cars.

"Uh, hi Dr. O," Conner squeaked, when they reached the rest of the group, and all Tommy did was stare at him, eyebrows raised in question, not really anger. Tommy continued to ignore him and Ethan. "Listen, Dr. O, we really did have a…"

"So what happened Zack?" Tommy interrupted him, taking his attention off the teenagers. Conner and Ethan both looked like they'd just been hit by a truck. Neither could figure out what was going on. Yelling they were ready for. Threats and even major punishment they were sure they could have handled, but Tommy wasn't even acknowledging that they were back. However, Rocky did yank the box Ethan was carrying out of his hands; but that was as close to attention as they received.

"Apparently Bulk and Skull came up with the idea that you and Jason were the white and red power rangers."

"On their own?" Tanya asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah," Trini stated. "They figured we were the only people that they never figured were likely to be rangers as kids, so they never really studied us. Then they decided that Jason and Tommy were the only ones who could possibly have been rangers."

"So by letting them see you two," Zack continued.

"At the same time as the white and red power rangers, their idea was shot to pieces," Tommy finished. "Well, at least one good thing came of this."

"Dr. O! YELL AT ME!" Conner's scream cut through the air, and startled everyone. Tommy just turned around slowly to stare at him.

"Mommy," Ethan muttered, diving behind his leader. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Tommy to have some type of reaction. Tommy continued to stare at Conner for several more seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

"We need to get you some ice for your neck. It looks like you've got like ten hickies," Tommy instructed, and began walking towards the jeep where Kira and Trent were giving him looks that seemed to suggest they thought he'd really lost it.

"But… Dr. O, please," Conner seemed to be begging now. Once again, Tommy just turned to look at him.

"I'm disappointed in you two. I thought you'd have had more brains than that. I understand you were trying to help, but you should have told us. We could have figured out a less public way of fixing it."

"I…"

"Conner, just don't. I'm not angry. I'm just really embarrassed. Now lets go. Maybe we can still enjoy the reception."

"Dr. O…"

"Do you have something productive to add, Ethan? Maybe why you and Conner felt it necessary to make me look bad in front of my friends?"

"Tommy really," Kimberly cut in, placing her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged her off immediately.

"Kim, no. It's not working. It was a dumb idea. Just leave me alone," he added, climbing into the jeep. Kira and Trent immediately climbed in with him, leaving two seats, which were obviously meant for Conner and Ethan. "I'll meet you all at the gardens," Tommy called out the window to Jason, who nodded, and then pulled the car out of the lot, the tires, kicking up dirt and gravel as he sped away.

"What just happened?" Trini asked, coming to stand directly beside Kimberly who looked like she'd been stepped on by a megazord.

"I have no idea," she muttered. Trini bit her lip, and wrapped her arm around her best friend in a one armed hug. Kim pulled out of it and climbed into the back seat of Jason and Trini's SUV, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Are we back to square one?" Trini asked, turning her attention to her husband.

"We never left square one. They've been faking this whole time to get us off their backs," Jason told her. Everyone but Rocky stared at him in surprise.

"Tommy may have been faking," Aisha said, breaking the silence, "but somehow, I don't think Kim was." Her words were those that only a best friend could know. Trini looked over her shoulder and saw Kimberly's silhouette leaning against the far passenger side window.

"She's right," she confirmed.

"Yeah, well, Tommy confessed he didn't want to be faking," Rocky told them.

"So they both want to get back together and the only ones who don't know it, are themselves?" Zack stated, bluntly.

"Precisely."

"And even worse," Jason put in. "They don't want our help."

"Affirmative," Billy replied again, sighing. "Better get going, or the cake will go bad."

* * *

So, I wasn't expecting the chapter to end on that note, but it did. I know this chapter should have been funnier than it was, but I just found out that one of my cats has a cancerous tumor that doesn't look like it can easily be removed, so yeah… anyway, I've only got about two weeks until I go back to school, but I should be able to update a few more times before than… hopefully. Anyway, hope you enjoyed.

Fateless Wanderer


	29. The Trouble With Wedding Cakes

So I really am sorry for not getting anything written for so long. School came quicker than I thought it would, and work has picked up like crazy. I'm a senior this year, so now it's on to graduate school preparation. Which, well, if I start that, is really going to put a limitation on writing – not that I want to think about that. Anyway, I promised this story would be finished, so in order to that, I've got to proceed with the updating; thus, I give you chapter 29.

* * *

"Dr. O?" Conner's voice broke the silence that had settled over the jeep since they'd left the parking lot five minutes before. However, different from his usual voice, sincerity ran in every syllable. "Dr. Oliver, I'm sorry. It was a stupid stunt to pull. I just… well, you seemed to have so much on your mind, that I didn't want you to have to worry about anything else," he spoke, disregarding the fact that Tommy never bothered to acknowledge the fact that he was speaking. When he finished, another uneasy silence descended onto the occupants of the vehicle. Conner sighed, and sank back into his seat, clearly defeated. Trent placed a hand on his shoulder, showing that at least he understood his teammate.

Ten minutes later, the Dino Thunder team reached the parking lot of the botanical gardens. They were almost an hour late for the scheduled time of the reception, but no way in hell was Tommy going to let any of the preparation for the day go to waste.

"Conner, Ethan; come here a minute," These were the first words Tommy had spoken since they got into the car. The two teenagers paused, preparing themselves for the worst and turned on their heels, while Trent and Kira proceeded into the building. "Have you two learned your lesson?"

"Absolutely. We never meant to cause so much trouble," Ethan answered, eager to be done with the whole insane mess.

"Are you sure? You're done running off on your own? You think you can stay put for the next week?"

"Yes," Conner agreed. "We really are sorry. We'll be even better behaved than Kira and Trent," he added, causing Tommy to laugh a bit.

"I highly doubt that; but in any case, thank you."

"Thank you?" Ethan replied, extremely confused. Conner was too dumbstruck to say or think anything. "Come again?"

"I mean it; thank you. As crazy as what you did was, it gave us all one more chance to work as a team, not to mention have a laugh. And you caused Kim and I to come clean. We shouldn't have been pretending; it'll only hurt more later."

"You were pretending?" Conner gapped until Ethan elbowed him in the gut. By this time Jason and Rocky's cars were pulling into the lot.

"Um… you're welcome then?" Ethan asked more than replied. "Does this mean we're off the hook?"

"Ha. Not quite. You two are grounded once again for the night, and when we get home, you guys get to spend a week trying to clean up the lab."

"Aww man," Conner groaned.

"Everything ok here?" Jason asked, as the rest of the group finally came up beside Tommy.

"Just fine. I was just finishing giving the boys their punishment."

"I thought there was a law against cruel and unusual punishment," Ethan muttered.

"It gets suspended in cases like this; but we can worry about it later. We have a wedding to celebrate," Tommy replied, and turned to his friends, smiling, ready to put the whole thing behind him. Jason looked at him when the others gave him questioning looks. The first red ranger just shrugged, clearly the signal for them all to move on.

"Alright, but the cake better be good," Jason told him, laughing and trying to lighten up the mood.

"Damn it, we forgot the cake," Rocky blurted out until Trini turned and glared at him. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

"Rocky, that's probably not the smartest thing to joke about," Kat laughed as the group proceeded inside, Kim bringing up the rear while engrossed in a conversation with Aisha. She hadn't so much as cast a glance at Tommy since they'd gotten there.

Trent and Kira were already seated, drinking ice tea, when the others finally joined them in the private room that was decorated in yellow and red with tinges of gold every once in a while.

"Took you long enough," Kira said pouting. "I want cake."

"Don't we all," Aisha replied, falling into a chair beside her.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't eat it," Adam told the girl as he entered, almost physically attached to Tanya. Since the chaos had ended, the two had been inseparable. "Or Trini might have killed you."

"Yep. My cake," Trini confirmed, laughing slightly as she slipped into a chair at the center of the table, Jason on one side of her, and Kimberly on the other. Tommy took the other seat beside Kim, surprising just about everyone. Kimberly looked at him, shock on her face. He just smiled, and Kim's surprised look turned into a glare. She instantly turned away from him as everyone else took seats and the waiters came to take their orders.

"What was that about?" Trini whispered to her best friend. Kim shrugged.

"No idea, but he's pissing me off."

"Why?"

"He's the one who said he couldn't do it Trini; and now he's just teasing me. Well, I'm not going to stand for it."

"Kim, I highly doubt he's teasing you," Trini protested.

"Trust me; he's just being an ass," Kim retorted.

Tommy didn't hear their exchange because Zack and Billy were busy asking him similar questions.

"I said I couldn't pretend to be her boyfriend. Not that I didn't want to."

"So you want to be in a relationship with her?" Billy asked. Tommy just shrugged. Truthfully, he didn't know what he wanted.

"I don't know. Maybe. But it's not going to happen like it did in high school. I'm not just going to be able to look at her or rescue her from some greasy slime ball and have her fall in love with me. It's going to take something much bigger than that."

"Like saving her from Goldar?" Zack offered, as if it could be arranged. Tommy shook his head.

"Who knows. But I'm want to at least be her friend. In fact, I owe her and myself that much."

"Tommy, I don't think it's going to be that easy. I'm pretty sure that glare she gave you means she's currently wishing you weren't here, let alone sitting beside her."

"That's just it, Billy. I don't care anymore. I couldn't care less what she wants. The last time I respected any of her decisions, I ended up loosing the one person I've ever really loved. Well, it's not about what she wants anymore. It's about me. For once in my life I'm making this about me."

"You're serious?" Zack asked him, almost not believing what he'd heard. Tommy nodded. He was officially done playing games.

"I've wasted a week. I'm not going to waste another. I'm just not sure how I'm going to do it yet. But stay out of it. All I want right now is to be her friend and you all just complicate things."

"We do not," Zack protested.

"Says he-who-runs-around-parks-while-morphed."

Zack just blinked. "Ha, ha, very funny. He-who-won't-admit-he-loves-Kimberly."

"Man-with-big-mouth-about-to-get-fat-lip."

"Man-who-hits-like-a-girl."

"Knock it off, both of you," Billy cut them off. "We'll stay out of it; just know that if you change your mind…"

"I know. I know. And thanks," Tommy replied.

"You're welcome, he-who-has-no-brains," Zack laughed, and Tommy hit him in the head while Billy watched them, shaking his.

* * *

Brunch went smoothly, save Kimberly pretending Tommy didn't exist, once again. However, this time she refrained from yelling and making a scene. By the time they were done eating, Trini was getting antsy, as they'd brought out the cake.

"No, you can not dive head first into the cake," Jason was telling his wife. Trini pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because I worked too hard to get that at such short notice," Kimberly told her.

"You mean 'we'," Tommy interjected. Kim sighed angrily, but nodded.

"Fine. _We_ worked too hard. You can cut it at the end of the party."

"Well, why isn't the party over? What do we do now?"

"We do what we always do at wedding receptions," Zack told Trini. He was no longer seated, but standing with a remote in his hand. He pressed a button and somewhere in the room, a stereo turned on. "We dance." Zack held his hand out to Kat, who laughed and accepted. Adam and Tanya followed, and Aisha dragged Rocky out with them.

"But I don't wanna," Trini protested. "I want wedding cake."

"Come on Trini. They worked hard. We can dance for a little," Jason laughed, pulling her to her feet. The former yellow ranger submitted, laughing at him.

"Trent?" Kira pouted, tugging on her boyfriends arm. Trent nodded and got up to follow her.

"Hey, what about us?" Conner called after them.

"Dance with each other," Trent suggested, grinning, before turning back to Kira.

Conner cast a look at Ethan, who shrugged. "Fine, but I'm out if it's a slow song," he told Conner as they joined the others.

Tommy sighed and stretched, lacing his arm over Kimberly's chair. He smiled at Billy, who just cocked an eyebrow at him. "Alone at last," Tommy replied nonchalantly.

"Billy's here," Kimberly shot back at him.

"Is he?" Tommy asked, almost as if he hadn't noticed.

"He is. Billy, would you care to dance? It looks like fun," Kim replied, taking control of the situation. Billy cast Tommy a look, who gave a tiny nod, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Sure," Billy told her, getting up and following her lead onto the dance floor, leaving Tommy at the table alone. He crossed his arms across his chest, watching everyone carefully, although most of the time, his eyes were settled on Kim. He would win this game. She was going to be his again, but no one else needed to know that. And she definitely didn't need to. Play time was officially over.

* * *

Half an hour later, the music slowed down, and true to his word, Ethan retreated back to the table, Conner following behind him.

"You look lonely," Conner mentioned to Tommy who just cast a look at him and shook his head.

"Nah, just waiting for the right moment," he answered. "And it looks like it just arrived. See you later, boys." He pushed himself out of his chair, now that Billy had accidentally positioned Kim with her back to the table. He'd even decided to show off and sent her into a spin. Unfortunately for Kimberly, it wasn't Billy who caught her when she spun back.

"Mind if I cut in," Tommy asked, grinning down at Kimberly.

"Not at all," Billy smiled, slinking off toward the chairs.

"Did you miss me?" Tommy asked her.

"What are you playing at?" Kimberly answered, refusing to dignify his question with an answer. Tommy was wearing a look she hadn't seen since he was the evil green ranger.

"Not playing," he told her, pulling her closer to him. "I just want to dance with a friend."

"Friends? Is that what you think we are?" She asked him, glaring.

"Maybe," he replied.

"Let me go; my feet hurt," she hissed, even though she was dancing in his arms, and part of her wanted to stay there. However, she was way too angry and hurt by him to listen to that half, even for a moment.

"No they don't. Admit it, you like this," he teased her. "Just follow my lead."

"Follow this, ass hole," she growled, plunging her heel into the tips of his toes. Tommy winced in pain and dropped her, allowing her to escape. "Now at least someone's feet hurt," she added, whirling away and retreating to the table as he pulled his foot up to put pressure on it, not dignifying her with anything more than a pained look.

"Brutal," Zack told him. He and Kat had come up behind him and Kim just a moment before.

"Yeah; but I can't say I didn't deserve it. Maybe this is a bad idea."

"No, don't give up," Kat told him. It seemed Zack had filled her in on their earlier conversation.

"Kat, she just slammed her heel into my toes," Tommy stressed. "I'm pretty sure she would have done worse if she could."

"Yeah, but she didn't," Zack told him. Tommy just looked at him and shook his head.

"I think I've got to approach this differently," Tommy replied. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Tommy cut him off. "No, it doesn't involve you." With that said, he walked over to Conner and Ethan, and started to talk to them as if nothing had ever happened.

"Those two have problems," Zack told Kat, tapping his head to get his point across.

"You think," Kat replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Lets go tell Trini she can have her cake now."

* * *

"Jason! Hurry up," Trini called to her husband who was finishing a conversation with Zack and Billy. Jason just smiled and sighed, leading his two friends over to the rest of the group where Aisha was refusing to give Trini the cake knife. "He's here. Give me it," she pouted.

"I've never seen her want cake this badly," Kim laughed to Tanya.

"That's cause I've never had a day like this," Trini replied, casting meaningful looks at Conner and Ethan, who both blushed and mutted the word "sorry".

"Alright, Alright," Aisha laughed and turned the knife over.

"Thank you," Trini replied, grinning as Jason came up behind her and rested his hand on top of hers.

"Ready," he asked her. Trini's response was a smile and then pressing the knife into the cake. Their friends cheered as they made second and third cuts, serving two pieces for themselves, before allowing Billy to take the knife and serve everyone else.

"Trini?" Jason asked; Trini turned to him, only to have a small piece of the cake shoved into her face.

"Oh, you are so dead," she retorted, grabbing a piece and chucking it at him; unfortunately, Jason ducked and the cake hit Tanya, who thought Adam had thrown it. To bad he hadn't, and the piece of cake she tossed at him, resulted in him throwing one back and hitting Zack.

"Ok, that is so not cool," Zack laughed. "In the words of most teenagers: FOOD FIGHT!"

"Zack, you've got to be kid-" Tommy started to say, but was cut off by Conner shoving a bowl of vegetable dip into his face. "-ing." He blinked a few times before brushing the dip out of his eyes. "You did not just do that," he told the teenager, who was now regretting his move. Conner gulped and took a few steps back as Tommy picked up another bowl of dip. He grinned and took aim, and then tossed the bowl towards the teenager ranger who used to have super speed. For about five seconds, Tommy sort of wondered if the teenager had managed to keep that part of his ranger powers. At least, he wondered until he heard a high pitched scream. "Oh shit," he whispered, looking from Conner to a now dip covered Kimberly. "I-uh... I was aiming for Conner," he tried to apologize.

"Die!" she hissed, tossing a large piece of cake at Tommy's head.

"Somehow I didn't think the reception would end this way," Rocky commented to Aisha just before she smiled at him, and hit him in the face with a hand full of cherries. "Ok… but now you've got to lick them off."

* * *

After Conner's short term stint during the pandemonium that ensued, Ethan grabbed him by the back of the shirt and dragged him towards the doorway where Kira and Trent had positioned themselves outside the line of fire.

"Wow," Trent whistled.

"This has got to be at least the third time this week that I've thought the world had gone insane," Ethan added. Kira nodded.

"Weren't we supposed to cause the chaos?" Conner asked.

Kira shook her head and looked at him. "You did help a little."

The four teenagers leaned against the wall watching as the so called adults engaged in the worlds silliest food fight. Who in their right mind chucked food at each other while wearing wedding attire? And how were they going to explain the mess?

"Uh guys, I don't want to be here when the staff arrives," Kira told her friends.

"I agree, but Conner and I absolutely promised not to wander off without permission anymore."

"Well then," Kira sighed, then smiled as she got an idea. "Dr. O!" she called. "We're going to go walk around the gardens."

"Whatever," he called back as Jason dumped a bowl of punch over his head. Kira wasn't exactly sure he'd even heard her, but he'd answered, and that was good enough for her.

"You head the man," Conner laughed and lead the other three teenagers out the door. Ethan, Trent, and Kira didn't hesitate to follow, especially after they rounded a corner and saw the waiters slowly making their way down the hall.

"Could you tell us how to get to the gardens?" Trent asked one of them. The man sort of grunted and pointed them in the right direction.

As soon as they were outside, Kira linked her arm with Trent's and then leaned against his shoulder. "So, what did Dr. O sentence you to? You headed home any time soon?" Kira asked.

"Actually, no. He thanked us," Ethan laughed.

"Thanked you?" Trent asked, astounded.

"Yeah," Conner replied. "It was really weird."

"What did he thank you for?"

"From what I gathered, causing a huge mess that made them work together," Ethan answered Kira.

"Oh, I get it."

"You do?" all three asked her.

"Yeah, its easy. They weren't just working together. You little stunt caused them to become power rangers again. Team work, saving the day. Your scheme was just complicated enough."

"You mean they saw Ethan and Conner as some sort of creepy alien monsters in need of destruction.

"Yep."

"Weird," Conner realized.

"Definitely weird," Ethan agreed.

"So what exactly is your punishment? There is one, right?" Trent asked.

"Yeah. We gotta clean the lab."

"Brutal," Trent hissed, as if wincing in pain. "I'm glad I'm not you."

"Your concern touches us, Trent," Ethan said sarcastically, causing everyone to laugh.

"It's really pretty out here," Kira commented randomly.

"Well duh. It's a massive flower garden," Conner pointed out.

"I know. But it's still really pretty. I don't ever want to go back inside."

"Unfortunately, I don't think we get that choice," Trent sighed. "Listen." His teammates obeyed, straining to hear over the light sound of running water and buzzing insects. It wasn't very difficult to hear masked shouting coming from the direction of the building.

"What do you say we meet them all in the parking lot instead of going in there?" Ethan asked. The other three quickly agreed.

* * *

By the time the teens reached the cars, the yelling seemed to have died down. A few moments later the adults came out covered in food and drink, nearly head to toe. The only one who seemed remotely clean was Kimberly and it was probably because everyone was too scared to throw anything at her after her brutal attack on Tommy. The teenagers just smirked at the adults who were desperately in need of showers as they drew near.

"Did you have fun?" Kira asked, arms folded across her chest in a mocking gesture.

"Tommy, your yellow is making fun of us," Jason complained.

"I noticed."

"So, how much trouble are you in?" Trent laughed. Jason, Tommy, and Rocky rolled their eyes.

"We got banned," Zack informed them.

"You got banned?" Ethan laughed, nearly falling off the hood of Tommy's jeep where he was sitting.

"For life," Rocky added, looking slightly amused. Aisha glared at him. "What?" She just shook her head and walked off, followed by all of the other women.

"And they're not very happy about it," Adam told the teens.

"I don't blame them," Kira laughed. "Want me to try and smooth things over?"

"Would you Kira? I don't think we're going to be able to leave until you do; and the staff wants us gone in ten minutes or they're going to press charges," Tommy told her.

"Only because Zack got jello on the ceiling," Billy added as Kira nodded and ran off after the women.

"Jello?" Conner asked.

"On the ceiling?" Trent added.

"Banned for life?" Ethan laughed.

"Oh, I am so calling Haley," Conner put in, diving for his phone as Tommy tried to stop him.

* * *

"Hey guys," Kira stated as she reached the group of women who'd wandered towards the far end of the lot, startling them.

"Kira! Don't do that. You'll give us all heart attacks," Kat laughed, although, like all of the others, she had assumed fighting stance.

"Can't take the ranger out of the power ranger, huh?" the teenager laughed. The older realized what she was talking about and adjusted themselves while laughing a bit.

"So, they sent you?" Trini asked her.

"Sorta. But I kind of volunteered."

"Traitor," Aisha mumbled with a smile.

"I am not. Just kind of tired of all the arguing," Kira told them bluntly, causing all five to blush. They had been doing that a bit too much.

"Have we been that childish?" Kim asked her.

"Just a tad," Kira smiled. "Come on. So they got you banned from a flower garden. You have to admit, it was fun, not to mention hilarious."

"She's right," Tanya put in.

"Damn her," Trini added.

"Besides, why get angry when you can get even?"

"Did I mention I really love this girl?" Aisha laughed.

"You might have," Kimberly agreed. "Come on, we have to get back anyway. There are presents and the cruise tickets for Jason and Trini back at the hotel." Everyone nodded agreement. Trini paused and smiled evilly.

"I've already got my revenge on Jason planned. Kim, do you think you mention the cruise tickets as soon as we get back to the guys?"

"Of course," Kim laughed, not completely sure what her friend was planning. As promised, Kim brought up the gifts and tickets as soon as they returned to the guys and Tommy had given Kira a nod of thanks.

"It's tickets for two right?"

"Yep. It'll be just the two of you," Tommy told Trini as he unlocked the jeep.

"Well, in that case, would anyone mind if I took someone besides Jason? I mean, I didn't get to have a stripper at my bachelorette party."

Kimberly finally realized what her best friend is doing and grinned. "Who did you want to take?" She used her best acting skills to keep her face straight.

"Um, I was thinking that I might take Billy," Trini replied casually. She could have sworn she heard something break near Jason. "Honey? Everything alright?"

"Just fine," Jason replied through gritted teeth from the driver's side door of their SUV. He looked down at the broken car door handle in his hand and then glared at Billy.

"Um, Trini. It think it might be exceptionally beneficial if you went on this escape with your husband," Billy said nervously.

"Nah. I've got my whole life to take a moonlight cruise with Jason, but only this week to go with you."

"I'm not sure Cestria would approve of that," the former blue ranger tried to argue.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Trini replied.

"Trini, I don't…"

"Billy, you're going with me, and that's that," Trini ordered before climbing into the vehicle beside her now fuming husband.

"Would anyone mind switching seats with me? Somehow I don't think I'm going to be welcome in that car."

"Nope," Aisha told him, sliding into the front seat of Rocky's car. Tanya and Kat shook their heads and followed her.

Kimberly gave each of the teens looks that told them not to even dare, before climbing into the back seat of Jason's SUV. Kira, Trent, Conner, and Ethan scurried into their mentor's jeep, leaving Billy to look at Adam.

"Billy, I would," Adam began, "but somehow I think Tanya will castrate me if I do."

"I would too man, but considering I'm in the same car, I don't think it would make much of a difference.

Billy just groaned and followed him to the SUV. It was going to be a long drive back to the hotel.

* * *

The minute the car door had closed, Jason had sped off back to the hotel. Kimberly and Zack dived out of the car and ran for safety in the lobby of the hotel. Trini slipped out of her own seat and started to saunter away seductively.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes, Billy," she called over her shoulder before disappearing, which only served to infuriate Jason more, if it was possible.

By the time Tommy and Rocky had driven up, Jason was almost to the point of punching Billy. He was shouting at the top of his lungs, growling curses, and several times, Billy could of sworn Jason had wished he'd abandoned the blue ranger in times of need. Billy was doing everything in his power to defend himself, but it wasn't really working.

"Do you think we should stop them?" Tanya whispered to Kim who had actually snuck back out. Zack was still cowering inside. The guys were standing around Jason and Billy attempting to calm the enraged red ranger down, while the girls stood against the cars.

"No, it's Trini's call," Kim replied.

"Where is she anyway?" Aisha asked. Kimberly just shrugged and actually searched for her friend who was no where in sight.

"Right here," Trini answered, coming up behind them. "Snuck around back." With that, she smiled and then walked into the group. "Jason, it's not his fault. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with me. It's my idea."

"What is?" Billy coughed out.

"You don't have to be afraid of him Billy. He can't hurt us. We can tell him about our plan to run off together." She was leaning against him, running her hand across his chest.

"What!"

"Trini? You'd really leave me for him?" Jason asked, looking distinctly hurt. Trini turned to look at Jason and smiled.

"Of course not you fool. I love you. But don't you ever get me banned from any more flower gardens," she laughed, latching onto him. "Or you," she called over to Billy who looked positively stunned.

"I- won't?" he asked, stuttering. Trini just nodded, smiling.

"Well, come on Jason. Lets go get ready to go," she told him, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him toward the hotel.

"We're all in deep trouble, aren't we?" Adam asked Tommy and Rocky. The three cast looks behind them at the girls who stood leaning against the car behind them. All four grinned evilly and waved, as the guys turned back around.

"Oh yeah," Rocky agreed.

"Try deep shit," Tommy added.

"Wonderful," Adam sighed as the girls walked past them into the hotel. "Might as well just get it over with," he added as the guys lead four very confused teenagers inside.

* * *

Ok, so I hope you enjoyed. Sorry it took so long to get that up, but like I said, school has been running me through a loop. Anyway, I do hope the next chapter will be up sooner.

Please review, I love to read your comments,

Fateless Wanderer


End file.
